Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy1

Transkrypt

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Social Policy Program
The project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New
Lisków” is implemented within the framework of EQUAL Community Initiative.
Editors: Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Proofreading: Holly Bouma
Project coordinator: Danuta Pławecka
Research coordinator: Kamila Hernik
ISBN: 978-83-89817-68-6
All rights reserved. No part of this report may be printed or reproduced without
permission of the publisher or quoting the source.
Publisher by:
Fundacja Instytut Spraw Publicznych
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e-mail: [email protected]
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e-mail: [email protected]
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Contents
Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy ............................................. 7
Part I
Social Economy in Poland: Case Studies
Izabella Bukraba-Rylska
Social Entrepreneurship in Poland in the 20-Year Period
Between the World Wars ......................................................................... 29
Tomasz Kaźmierczak, Paulina Sobiesiak
Lisków – A Model of Local Development? ............................................ 63
Joanna Leszczyńska, Agata Dobrowolska
“Dolina Strugu” (“Strug Valley”) – A Partnership Laboratory ............... 79
Kamila Hernik, Jacek Kisiel
A Green Goose in Rodaki – The Transformation of a Successful
Project into Local Community Development ....................................... 107
Kamila Hernik, Paulina Sobiesiak
Sewing the World for Children – The “Old School” Social
Cooperative in Prostki........................................................................... 131
Part II
Social Economy in Poland: Reflections
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Community in Action – Reflections and Hypotheses ........................... 157
Marek Rymsza
The Second Wave of the Social Economy in Poland
and the Concept of Active Social Policy............................................... 172
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
A Model of Community Development Work with Impoverished
Rural Communities ............................................................................... 188
About the authors .................................................................................. 206
Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy1
1. The Development of Social Policy in Europe:
From Workers’ Compensation to Social Inclusion
The problems which affect Polish society – including poverty,
unemployment and social marginality – are not unique to Poland.
Many European inhabitants, even in Europe’s wealthiest nations, are
experiencing these problems. There are differences between countries, but
these differences pertain to scale and intensity rather than to the nature of
situations. Thus, the differences are based on quantity, not quality. Social
exclusion, which is widely understood as a combination of the abovementioned problems, is a fundamental social issue (alongside the aging of
the welfare society) facing Europe today.
There are multiple and varied sources of social exclusion of entire
groups and regions. The current globalisation of the economy – an
economy that seems to be losing its basic servile mission – is one of
the conditions making this phenomenon possible. Rational management
1
The following text introduces the main topics of this volume, which is composed
of translations of articles that were written (in Polish) for the project entitled “Toward
a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New Lisków”. In the following
text we have included translated excerpts of our introductions to volumes from which
we selected articles: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza, Introduction, in: T. Kaźmierczak,
M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny. Ekonomia społeczna, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2007, pp. 9-14; T. Kaźmierczak, W stronę nowego Liskowa. Inspiracje, konteksty
i cele projektu studyjno-badawczego, in: T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), W poszukiwaniu strategii
pobudzania oddolnego rozwoju wiejskich społeczności, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw
2008, pp. 215-228. These excerpts are not in quotation marks because they have been reworded appropriately for the purposes of the following article.
8
evaluated in strictly economic terms often produces results that are
counter-productive from the perspective of social needs and expectations.
Homo oeconomicus is a construct. In reality, a human being is not only
the producer or the consumer, the employee or the employer. Human
economic activities are rarely one-dimensional. Economic theory itself
is increasingly taking this into consideration. Contemporary economists
who are interested in accurately describing people’s market activities
– through the language of economics – are using concepts from social
psychology and sociology2. Interdisciplinary studies and theories are
appearing, such as economic sociology. The economic theory of classical
liberalism is simultaneously developing the concept of market failure
and its side effects. The concept of market failure allows us to determine
the conditions surrounding “market successes”. In other words,
we can describe the conditions and space in which market mechanisms
do not bring effective solutions. Side effects (which are usually negative)
logically appear alongside management. They are rarely considered in
calculations made by enterprises. Environmental pollution is an example
of the most commonly understood side-effects of “rational management”.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that one of the side-effects of market
economic forces, which we have been observing for some time but which
has only recently been recognised as a social problem, is the exclusion
from the labour market of people who do not fit into the equation of
generating profit, accumulating capital and consumption patterns.
Currently, Europe is searching for solutions to the issue of social
exclusion. In fact, there is no choice in the matter. At the turn of the
20th century, when the issue of workers’ rights appeared as a result of
hastening industrialisation, the concept of a welfare state was created.
This concept was developed through several decades of thought, which
referred back to the Great Depression at the end of the 1920s. One
could say that the issue of workers’ rights produced a national social
policy in Western Europe regarding the market economy. This social
policy linked the legitimisation of market mechanisms with the principle
of social solidarity. The welfare state – precisely in the name of social
solidarity – overcame traditional divisions in society. It guaranteed all
citizens their basic needs and standards of living. However, it turned out
that the welfare state was not capable of resolving all social problems
or preventing new divisions in the labour market and social structure.
2
See: R. Frydman, M. D. Goldberg, Imperfect knowledge economics: exchange rate
and risk, Princeton University Press, Princeton 2007.
Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy
9
The problem was not only in the scale of differing living standards,
but also in a more basic diversification regarding citizens’ participation
in the public sphere and activity in the labour market. In other words,
the welfare state did not achieve a level of cohesion that would help
resolve newly arising social problems. This occurred in part because the
competencies of the state increased alongside the development of the
concept of the welfare state, thus undercutting the activity of citizens.
Meanwhile, the number of citizens who were marginalised increased.
That is why at the turn of the 21st century the evolution of social policy
in Europe is turning toward the idea of social cohesion, which can be
considered an updated version of solidarity and was constructed in direct
response to the problem of social exclusion3. Social cohesion implies
a thorough reconstruction (but not a deconstruction) of Europe’s welfare
states, or in other words – as some prefer to say – the European social
model. In the European Union, in the broadly understood social sphere, the
core of the social cohesion policy is “active social policy”4. Programmes
that are organised in the framework of “active social policy” are designed
to stimulate beneficiaries, provide specified goods and services, and
increase the level of participation in social life and economic exchange.
Undoubtedly, one of the fundamental measures of social cohesion
is the strength and character of local social ties. At the turn of the 20th
century, during the time of rapid industrialisation, social policy was
searching for compensation programmes, improving the working
conditions and creating workers’ communities within the workplace.
One of the effects was social security system5. Today, at the beginning of
the 21st century, in the era of globalisation, social policy is rediscovering
the concept of local communities. Contemporary social policy is in large
part decentralised and thus based on the principle of state subsidiarity
that is oriented toward strengthening social cohesion “at the bottom
level”. Thus, a local community is both a target and creator of solutions.
A well-organised community can provide its members – and also
those who have been excluded from the labour market for a long time
– with a unique chance to participate in economic activity. This kind of
3
See: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna w teorii i praktyce, in:
T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), W stronę aktywnej polityki społecznej, Institute
of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2003.
4
See: R. Berkel, I.H. Møller (eds.), Active social policies in the EU. Inclusion
through participation?, The Polity Press, Bristol 2002.
5
See: M. Rymsza, Social Policy and Social Ties, in: On Solidarity (volume with
conference papers), Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna 2006.
10
community can create high standards of living and secure a feeling of
belonging that will be increasingly difficult to achieve in a multicultural
world. The need for strong communities is becoming more important
as global processes increasingly affect our lives and nation states are
becoming weaker. Thus, the welfare state is evolving into a welfare
society6.
2. Social Economy and Social Capital
In the transition from the welfare state to welfare society, the social
economy takes on a particular meaning. We define the social economy
as a set of tools that increase the participation of people marginalised
by the labour market and members of neglected local communities in
both economic activity and social life. The social enterprise is the most
common of these tools. Thus, the social economy – when understood
as a defined economic sector – is a space for realising programmes that
promote active social policy.
It is important to note that the developing concept of active social
policy is built on the American concept of workfare. These two concepts,
however, are not identical, and the differences between them pertain
especially to ethics. The issue of similarities and differences requires
a distinct analysis. Here we will highlight exclusively the fact that the
differences influence the social enterprise, among other things. Social
activation programmes that were developed in the United States primarily
emphasise the activation of the individual and support individual
economic undertakings. Both emerging social enterprises and individual
economic undertakings of clients in these welfare programmes receive
support (even extensive support), primarily during the initial phases of
their activity. Later they must succeed on the market on their own. This
is therefore an incubator model of support for social entrepreneurship7.
Europe, however, prioritises economic undertakings that have a collective
nature, and the support that the social enterprise receives is structural
and constant. Support applies not only to the incubation phase but it
also includes subsidised employment, tax exemptions, and preferential
treatment in calls for tender (for example, social clauses in tender offers).
6
See: J.J. Rodger, From a welfare state to a welfare society, St Martin’s Press, New
York 2000.
7
This was the basic goal in reforming the social welfare system on the federal level,
which was carried out in the 1990s.
11
It can thus be concluded that the concept of the social economy is
a European concept. Its economic foundations are developed primarily at
Spanish and Italian, not American universities. In turn the idea of a social
entrepreneurship is narrower in substance, but it has a more universal
character and is developed also in Anglo-Saxon countries8.
The social economy is not a new phenomenon. It developed as
a space for theory and economic activity in Europe in the 19th century.
It has been rediscovered by contemporary scholars9. Thus, there are two
waves of the social economy to discuss: the “old” and the “new”. (The
text by Marek Rymsza10 in this volume addresses this topic). It seems
that the issue of the social economy arises when a disparity between what
people expect from the economy and what the economy offers becomes
difficult to accept. This occurred in the 19th century, when the concept of
the social economy developed in reaction to the exploitation of laissezfaire capitalism. It also occurred at the end of the 20th century. At that
time the reason for its revitalisation was the fact that increasing amounts
of people became redundant in the division of labour. The new phase of
the social economy in Europe is thus a reaction to the new phenomenon
of social exclusion. As already stated, the social economy became an
instrument for integration within the framework of the European Union’s
cohesion policy.
A social enterprise is the institution that belongs to the social economy
and engages in business activity. A “normal” enterprise and social
enterprise are fundamentally similar: they generate an income, while
functioning competitively and risking bankruptcy. It should be noted that
the concept of subsidised employment, which is currently developing in
Europe, reduces the economic risk of market activity, especially in the
social economy sector. This is the differentiating factor between the new
and the old waves of the social economy. Mutualities and cooperatives
before WWII did not benefit from state support and had to sustain
themselves on the competitive open market.
What distinguishes social enterprises from “normal” enterprises is,
first, a particular definition of the institution’s goals and, in consequence,
8
British work has been especially influential in the development of the concept
of social enterprise. See: M. Aiken, Przedsiębiorstwo społeczne w ekonomii społecznej.
Rozwiązania brytyjskie na tle tradycji europejskiej, “Trzeci Sektor” 2005, No. 2.
9
Regarding contemporary social economy, see: T. Kaźmierczak, Zrozumieć
ekonomię społeczną, in: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny. Ekonomia
społeczna, op. cit.
10
The names of authors whose texts appear in this volume are printed in bold.
12
the specific types of criteria that are adopted to evaluate its effectiveness.
A “normal” enterprise aims to generate a profit – higher income than
costs – while the social enterprise aims to attain greater benefits than
costs, wherein a benefit is understood as a product of both financial profit
and social benefit taken as a whole. The problem lays in the difficulty
of measuring social benefit. This difficulty explains the search for new
methods, accounting techniques, and audits, which would provide a basis
for determining the effectiveness of management in contexts where
economic evaluation does not cover their entire scope11. The easiest way
to measure the effectiveness of the social enterprise is through the scope
of worker (re)integration, for example by counting the number of places
of work created for marginalised people.
The second element that distinguishes the social enterprise is the fact
that often (though not always) it develops from a local, collective initiative.
When this occurs, the ties among the social enterprise, social capital, and
local development become clear. Firstly, the social enterprise is formed
in essence thanks to local, social capital and this capital – as a positive
“side effect” of management or as a consciously established social aim
– multiplies. Secondly, the social enterprise can be a unique mechanism
for transforming social capital into other kinds of resources: material,
organisational, human, and infrastructural. All of these can be understood
as capital resources in later activities of both the social enterprise and other
social structures that already exist in a given community or are newly
forming. Thus, the social enterprise becomes a stimulating agent in local
development. Although its measure of effectiveness is much more difficult
to ascertain than the measure of effectiveness of enterprises promoting
reintegration into the labour market, both functions of the social enterprise
are undoubtedly seen as equally important12.
Thus, the social enterprise transforms an ability/willingness
to cooperate (social capital) into local socio-economic development. It is
nevertheless important to remember that not every social enterprise will
induce this transformation in full. In order for that to be the case, it is
necessary for the social enterprise to be embedded in the local community.
A well-established social enterprise is a social enterprise that is subsumed
11
See: M. Bohdziewicz-Lulewicz, Metody i techniki mierzenia społecznego wpływu,
czyli jak uchwycić wartość dodaną podmiotów ekonomii społecznej, “Trzeci Sektor”
2006, No. 7.
12
See: The Social Economy in European Union, a report prepared in 2007 by CIRIEC
for the European Economic and Social Committee (No. CESE/COMM/05/2005).
13
into the local, social network and economic relations and constitutes an
element of the community capacity. A social enterprise understood in this
way can become a key element in the strategy to stimulate endogenous
development – a strategy that is directed at neglected communities,
especially those located in the countryside and in small towns. It seems
that these enterprises essentially constitute a specific and separate kind
of social enterprise. We might call it a social enterprise embedded in the
local community. Similarly, enterprises that specialise in the social and
work reintegration of people who have been unemployed and/or hold
a marginalised position on the labour market are called Work Integration
Social Enterprises13.
Precisely these kinds of initiatives – that is social enterprises
embedded in rural communities – appear in the case studies found in this
volume. A social enterprise in rural regions is, in our opinion, a flagship
product of the Polish approach to the social economy, including the “old”
and the “new” waves. This is Poland’s contribution to the development
of the social economy in Europe. One of the most important goals of this
volume is to bring Poland’s input closer to English-speaking readers.
3. The Social Economy in Poland
In Poland in recent years interest in the social economy has
clearly increased. Social enterprise initiatives have been launched
by numerous non-governmental organisations. Information about many
newly established social enterprises, especially social cooperatives,
have appeared in the media. This new wave of interest in the social
economy is linked to the perception of both policy-makers and public
opinion regarding the necessity for re-orienting social policy toward
activating forms of social support, in place of protective activities, which
accompanied the economic reforms of the 1990s.
One element of the debate about the new wave of the social economy
that is taking place in Poland is a focus on new members in the sector, such
as social cooperatives, not-for-profit companies, and non-governmental
organisations. They are economically active while ignoring the Polish
tradition of the social economy, which dates back to the 19th century and
the beginning of the 20th century and includes some traditional institutions,
13
C. Davister, J. Defourny, O. Gregoire, Work Integration Social Enterprises in the
European Union: An Overview of Existing Models, EMES Working Papers (No. 04/04),
2004; www:emes.net .
14
such as workers’ cooperatives and especially mutualities. Undoubtedly, the
legacy of communism partially explains the current situation. Communism
distorted Poland’s traditions and placed cooperatives within the framework
of a centrally organised economy. Perhaps the current situation is also the
inevitable result of the political and economic transition, expressing itself in
the form of a psychological need “to build everything from scratch”.
It is necessary to emphasise that the institutional solutions of
the political and economic transition, which were developed after
1989, did not only ignore the idea of the social economy but also
made its revitalisation more difficult14. Three main kinds of reform
shaped the transition of the 1990s in Poland: political, economic, and
administrative-structural. Unfortunately, the social sphere was considered
a peripheral space throughout the 1990s. Social policy was not seen as
a developmental policy but rather as a set of actions that compensate sideeffects of economic reforms. Its goal was to create a safety net for people
who were being marginalised from the labour market. Social policy thus
served a protective function rather than an activation one15. This approach
did not facilitate the development of social enterprises. The restructuring
of the market itself was supposed to absorb the surplus in work force,
but it did not succeed in this. Thus, there arose a need for adjusting the
foundations of the social economy.
In a sequence of two decentralising reforms (1990/1991; 1999/2000),
the Polish government shifted to local governments the responsibility
to organise social welfare (the first reform) and later employment services
(the second reform). Unfortunately, the Polish government did not grasp
the role of non-governmental organisations. Laws for cooperating between
sectors were not delineated until 2003/2004. They created new perspectives
for the development of the social economy in Poland. It was third sector
organisations that first noticed the need for developing the social economy,
and they tried to promote this notion for a few years without success. These
organisations seem predestined to carry out the development. However,
this was not possible without the support of local governments. The current
search for rules of cooperation suggests that in both local governments and
organisations of the third sector a need for true partnership is arising.
14
See: M. Rymsza, Zapomniany kapitał Solidarności. Ekonomia społeczna w Polsce
po 1989 roku, “Więź” 2008, No. 4-5.
15
See: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna. Stan obecny
i szanse upowszechnienia koncepcji, “Analizy i Opinie” No. 48, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2005.
15
There currently exists a well-entrenched conviction that inter-sector
cooperation, due to synergy, creates optimal conditions for activating
neglected communities and solving local problems. Such partnerships
do not indicate submission or weakness on any party’s part, but on the
contrary these partnerships attest to strong partners who are conscious
of their strengths and weaknesses. In past years, many partnerships
have been established in Poland in order to develop the social economy.
The EQUAL Community Initiative has played a significant part in this effort.
4. The “Building a New Lisków” Project
An appreciation for the role of partnerships between sectors in efforts
pertaining to the social economy was the basis for the project entitled
“Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New
Lisków”. This project was financed by the EQUAL Community Initiative
and realised by the Institute of Public Affairs with the Academy for the
Development of Philanthropy in Poland, the Working Community of
Associations of Social Organisations (WRZOS), and a group of local
partners from four counties (in Polish: powiaty): Ełk and Nidzica (in the
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), as well as Biłgoraj and Lublin-Ziemski
(in the Lublin Voivodeship). The project was realised between 2005 and
2008; however, the culmination of the work took place from autumn 2006
to spring 2008. The Institute of Public Affairs fulfilled the administrative
functions of the project while simultaneously carrying out analysis and
research. These two functions were clearly separate. This volume presents
the fruits of the analysis and research.
During the project, in all four of the above-mentioned counties, the first
step was to create Local Partnerships, which were composed of partners
representing the public, non-government and private sectors. The goal of
each partnership was to initiate a social enterprise. The Local Partnerships
practiced full autonomy; each had the power to decide on the form of the
partnership, principles of its functioning, business plan and legal form of
future enterprises, location, and strategy etc. Within the framework of this
autonomy the Ełk partnership decided to initiate two enterprises, in Lublin
there were three, and both Nidzica and Biłgoraj counties initiated two. It was
thus planned that seven enterprises would take off. It is important to note
that the partnerships of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship were supported
by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, while the
partnerships of the Lublin Voivodeship were supported by WRZOS.
16
Community development workers arrived – one in each county.
Their main purpose was to activate the community where an enterprise
was to be initiated. They were not members of the Local Partnerships.
The way in which their relationship to the partnership was arranged was
purposefully left up to “the natural course of events”. The role of the
community development workers was framed in the following way: they
were to work on the community capacity, especially with regard to social
capital16.
The actions of the Local Partnerships achieved the “concrete” results
that they had aimed for. At the end of 2007, all seven social enterprises
were already functioning. One of these enterprises is described in the
text by Paulina Sobiesiak and Kamila Hernik included in this volume.
The community development workers can take pride in the “concrete results”,
even though these results were not initially their goals. Thanks to their efforts,
five new local associations were formed, among other successes.
The analysis and research addressed the observations of the actions
directed by the Local Partnerships. Interviews were conducted twice with
members of the Local Partnerships (May-June 2006, November 2007),
the community development workers regarding their tasks (June-July
2007), as well as the staff of the social enterprises (November 2007).
The Institute of Public Affairs created a special research team, which
worked for two years17. Furthermore, from May to July 2007, research
was conducted about other grassroots initiatives that pertained to the social
enterprise and were developed in rural areas. Case studies were created
on the basis of this research, regarding seven communities located in the
Podkarpacie, Małopolska, Śląsk Opolski and Lublin regions. Two of these
case studies – written by Joanna Leszczyńska and Agata Dobrowolska,
as well as Kamila Hernik and Jacek Kisiel – appear in this volume.
The analysis and research conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs
resulted in a series of four collective volumes18, from which we selected
16
See: R. J. Chaskin, P. Brown, S. Venkatesh, A. Vidal, Building Community
Capacity, Aldin de Gruyter, New York 2001.
17
The research team was composed of the following people: Marta Łuczyńska,
Anna Olech, Agnieszka Rymsza, Dobroniega Trawkowska, Kamila Hernik, Dominika
Skwarska, Paulina Sobiesiak and chief of the team was Tomasz Kaźmierczak; the person
in charge of determining the content was Marek Rymsza.
18
They include: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny. Ekonomia
społeczna, Warsaw 2007; T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), Zmiana w społeczności lokalnej, Institute
of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2007; T. Kaźmierczak, K. Hernik (eds.), Społeczność lokalna
w działaniu, Warsaw 2008; T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), W poszukiwaniu strategii pobudzania
oddolnego rozwoju wiejskich spolecznosci, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008.
17
the articles which appear in translation in this volume. These texts provide
information that helps answer a key question: in what way can endogenous
forms of development be initiated in neglected communities? The title
“Building a New Lisków” reflects precisely that direction of thought.
Lisków, a rural Polish village located not far from Kalisz, was an exemplary
model of local development. It transitioned from a state of impoverishment
and illiteracy to economic, social, educational and cultural prosperity.
A social enterprise, organised along the lines of the “old” social economy,
played a key role in Lisków’s transformation. Tomasz Kaźmierczak and
Paulina Sobiesiak’s text addresses this subject.
Essentially, Lisków is an excellent illustration of an approach to the
problem of social development that emphasises the role of social capital
and the social economy, among other issues. The history of inter-war
Lisków is the story of how one community that lacked material resources
initiated a social enterprise by increasing the level of social capital and
developing its potential, thus turning the enterprise into an engine of local
development.
5. The Development of the Social Economy in Poland:
Case Studies
This volume – in addition to this introduction – includes eight articles
that address the development of the social economy in Poland. These texts
discuss examples of market initiatives during the first and second waves
of the social economy. They concentrate on a social enterprise that was
developed in rural areas. A rural social enterprise is specific because there
are no large economic investments there to which small local enterprises
could join. In rural areas the relations between a social enterprise and
social capital are rather visible. Furthermore, it is easier to see the cultural
continuity between the first and second waves of the social economy
in the countryside than it is in urban agglomerations. In rural areas it is
possible to see an outline of the Polish model of the social economy.
In the 19th century, what identified a social enterprise in Poland
was its patriotic (especially on Prussian territory19), grassroots, and
19
At the end of XVIII century Poland lost its independence. For more than 100
years the Polish territory has been occupied by Prussia, Russia and Austria (then AustroHungarian Empire). Poland get back its independence in 1918 after the World War I. Part
of the Austro-Hungarian Wmpire was the Polish Galicz (Galicja), where most of the social
economy initietives analysed in this volume were located.
18
independent character, which was connected to the development of the
peasants’ movement (especially on Austrian territory). The activating
role of the Catholic Church and socially-oriented priests was becoming
visible. The development movement that Lisków illustrated continued
during the Second Republic of Poland (in the inter-war period), as Lisków
became a model village in the 1930s. The communist period (1945-1989)
interrupted the development of the social economy. During the Third
Republic of Poland, after the shock of the initial transition, there was
a return to the idea of local development within the framework of the new
wave of the social economy. For now these initiatives are being performed
outside of the main set of reforms in the transition. Both Dolina Strugu,
which is described by us (and not only us), and the economic initiative
taken by the village Rodaki that was “discovered” by our research team,
serve as spectacular examples.
The first part of the volume is composed of case studies. They include the
development of a rural enterprise during the first wave of the social economy
(this pertains to Lisków, Handzlówka, and Zaborów), as well as the second
wave (including Dolina Strugu, Rodaki, and Prostki). In the appendix there is
a map of Poland, which shows the above-mentioned locations.
Izabella Bukraba-Rylska’s text entitled Social Entrepreneurship
in Poland in the 20-year Period Between the World Wars appears first
in the volume. The author creates a unique reconstruction of models of
the social economy during the Second Republic of Poland, describing
three known local initiatives: Lisków, Handzlówka, and Zaborów.
In addressing local economic initiatives and more complex actions
intended to activate the local communities, she points to socially active
members of each community. In all three examples, that activation turned
out to be a key agent in development, creating a situation in which each
following successful, local initiative stimulated the next (and there were
many successes: the organisation of farming clubs, cooperatives, peasants’
houses, and even theatres like the one in Handzlówka). Bukraba-Rylska
makes comparisons between these three cases. In the section about
Lisków, she emphasises the key role of Father Wacław Bliziński, a strong
– according to her, overly strong – leader, who joined the community
from the outside. (The priest came to Lisków from Warsaw in 1900, under
the orders of a bishop, to become the parish-priest.) A few years earlier,
in 1889 Father Władysław Krakowski arrived in Handzlówka. He also
played an important role in activation of the community, but he was not
a key figure. Franciszek Magryś, a clerk in local council, was the most
important player. In turn, in Zaborów, the most important role was played
19
by a collective actor: emigrants who invested their money, earned in the
United States of America, for the purpose of developing the infrastructure
of their native village.
The author shows that the development of social enterprises in
rural Poland at the turn of the 19th century, especially in Galicia, was
not limited to isolated examples, even if it was not as common as
economically-oriented migration at the time. Of the factors that support
social enterprises, Bukraba-Rylska emphasises strong community ties
(which create social capital), as well as the peasant mentality, despite
common stereotypes.
While in Izabella Bukraba-Rylska’s text Lisków was only one of several
discussed examples (and it is not even the most “constructive”; the author
seems to highlight Handzlówka most), Tomasz Kaźmierczak and Paulina
Sobiesiak’s article entitled Lisków – A Model of Local Development? is
entirely focused on the phenomenon of this one village, located near Kalisz,
and the leader of its spectacular development, Father Wacław Bliziński.
The authors perceive this socially-active priest differently – as an authority
that mobilised others in order to bring Lisków out of poverty and initiate
economic, social, and spiritual processes in the village (today they would
be called processes of sustainable development). The authors emphasise
that from the very beginning Father Bliziński understood that leaders from
Lisków would be necessary for the success of the undertaking. He would
share his leadership with them, and with time he would give up his power
entirely to them. While working toward this, Father Bliziński paid attention
to the youth who he raised himself.
Kaźmierczak and Sobiesiak also emphasise the collective character –
inspired by the priest – of the economic activities, which were organised
as cooperatives. A cooperative called “Farmers’ Agricultural and Trade
Cooperative” was the engine of Lisków’s development. It was founded
in 1902, as an agreement between the priest and a group of parishioners.
After a few years of activity, the cooperative was officially registered as
an autonomous organisation functioning to provide mutual support in the
process of modernising farms of cooperative members and to providing
the entire local community with good and affordable commodities. It had
35 founding members, but with time it grew into a local establishment
that employed around 100 workers.
Father Bliziński understood that people could achieve a lot more
through reciprocated trust and collaboration – including in the economic
sphere – than they could by working individually, only for their own
interests. Father Bliziński started with educational work: he taught
20
the Liskovians how to read and write. (He did this secretly because
the Russian occupiers forbade teaching the Polish language.) Today
we would call this educational work investment in human capital. Then
he organised various clubs and societies, which created closer ties
between parishioners. As people met, they developed greater trust among
each other. By discussing topics concerning Lisków, they decided what
would be best for everyone, what would be the communal good. Thus,
the new created clubs and societies were an investment in social capital.
Only peasants who were educated and willing to participate in collective
actions were able to set up and lead cooperatives, as well as many other
forms of economic and cultural-educational enterprises.
The following texts address the current period. Joanna
Leszczyńska and Agata Dobrowolska (“Dolina Strugu” (“Strug
Valley”) – A Partnership Laboratory) describe the phenomenon of
market development in four neighboring communities around Rzeszów,
at the beginning of the political and economic transition in Poland.
The initial motivating force there was a telecommunications cooperative.
Its development took place in the 1990s, alongside if not in opposition
to the main direction of economic change which was – as stated before
– against social Entrepreneurship. The authors point to the historical and
cultural conditions that supported this local initiative. They emphasise
that Dolina Strugu belongs to the Galician tradition of autonomous rule,
which Handzlówka also exemplifies. According to the authors, models
of voluntary actions and a tradition of peasants’ movement – which were
shaped at the turn of the 19th century, on Polish territories controlled
by Austro-Hungarian Empire and later, when Poland was already free
during the inter-war period and during communism – were preserved in
a way. They resurfaced during the Solidarity movement (1980-1981).
Although martial law brought back the realities of real socialism for
one decade, after 1989 the Solidarity leaders in Rzeszowszczyzna took
on various activating initiatives, of which Dolina Strugu turned out to be
most important.
Although they do not emphasise it, the authors point to one other
element that led to the success of Dolina Strugu. In addition to human
capital (the role of leaders) and social capital (model of Galician selfgovernance and strong social ties in local communities), financial
capital was also important to the success of the telecommunications
cooperative. The leaders of the initiative managed to gain financial
support from The United States. Without that support it would not have
been possible to invest in modern information technology, to break up the
21
state monopoly of Polish Telecommunications that existed at the time,
or to provide high-level services in that branch. Thus, the example set
by Dolina Strugu is – in a way – similar to Zaborów. However in Zaborów
the investors were Polish emigrants, in Dolina Strugu – inhabitants with
a support from American donors. Today the modernising role of support
that The United States – as well as other developed countries that were
concerned with Poland’s situation such as Great Britain, Canada and
Holland – gave to Poland during the first phase of the political and
economic transition is often overlooked. Financial support from the
European Union (known as pre-accession support) did not begin to reach
Poland until a few years later. Dolina Strugu is only one example of
successful local initiatives – in the process of re-establishing civil society
in Poland – that were established thanks to external support.
Meanwhile Kamila Hernik and Jacek Kisiel (authors of the article
entitled The Green Goose of Rodaki – The Transformation of a Successful
Project into Local Community Development) describe the phenomenon
of local initiatives in Rodaki – a small village in southern Poland. The
authors point to Galician models of community membership as well.
(Although we will emphasise that Rodaki was located on territory
occupied by Russia at the time.) They provide examples of continuing
social engagement on the part of inhabitants during the communist
period, however in regions that were not politically active at the time and
thus were tolerated by the state leadership. Hernik and Kisiel also show
that Rodaki’s economic initiative, which was based on raising a unique
species of goose, was an entirely grassroots effort. However, a lack of
external support made further development and leadership of economic
activities on a large scale impossible.
Finally, the last case study addresses an initiative that was started
recently: the social cooperative called “The Old School” in Prostki
nearby Ełk in Masuria (in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship). Paulina
Sobiesiak and Kamila Hernik (the authors of the article entitled Sewing
the World for Children – The “Old School” Cooperative in Prostki
describe this initiative. The cooperative in Prostki became active in 2007
and is one of several initiatives of this kind realised under the auspices
of EQUAL. For us, it is an especially important example because it is
one of seven social enterprises established within the framework of the
project called “Building a New Lisków”, which serves as the basis of
this volume. It was a local initiative and although it was inserted into
a broader Polish project, it remained in that form. The authors show not
only how cooperatives contribute to the activation of villages and local
22
development but also how they change the lives of cooperative members,
people who faced long-term unemployment.
6. Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy?
The next three texts that are included in this volume have a different
character. They do not analyse specific examples of successful economic
initiatives, but they try to formulate general findings regarding the
conditions that are necessary for the development of social enterprises in
neglected areas and for the Polish model of the social economy.
Marek Rymsza (The Second Wave of the Social Economy in
Poland and the Concept of Active Social Policy) discusses unions for
the development of social enterprises in the context of the increasingly
common concept – in Poland and in Europe – of active social policy that
is focused on the activation of the receivers of support. In this way, the
social economy enters the main political stream. In the second half of the
1990s the European Union gave the social economy a green light. The
profile of EQUAL Community Initiative was one result of this green light.
It prioritised the development of the social economy as a way of limiting
the problem of social exclusion. The author attempts to illustrate the
model of a social enterprise that is appearing in Poland through the linked
ideas of the social economy, active national social policy, and European
Union priorities. He calls this “the Polish approach to empowerment”.
The two other final texts are by Tomasz Kaźmierczak. The first
of these (entitled Community in Action – Reflections and Hypotheses)
summarises the above-mentioned monographs about grassroots social
enterprise initiatives. The author emphasises the role of community
capacity, social capital and relationships between local civil society
organisations and local public authorities. The process of activating the
local community through outside community development workers is the
dominating character of the second article (entitled A Model of Community
Development Work with Impoverished Rural Communities). This is
the form that development took in most of the case studies discussed
in this volume. The author points out that this kind of external support
is indispensable in the context of the most neglected and impoverished
communities. However, a wise community development worker does not
arrive with prepared solutions. Instead, he builds (and in part discovers)
local potential for endogenous development. He also discovers (and in
part educates) local leaders for the community, who will continue his or
23
her work. Thus, local development is a temporary intervention, which
has its beginning and end, although the length of time of the development
worker’s activities varies: from more than ten years (as in the case of
Father Wacław Bliziński with the Liskovians) to only a year and a half
(as in the case of the local development worker in Prostki).
Building the “old” or the “new” Lisków implies an activation of social
and economic development processes in a neglected community, which
is too weak to achieve this activation with its own strength and resources.
Usually such communities are not only poor but are also located outside of
the main stream of events. In other words, they do not have contact with the
outside world, not even with nearby locations; they are closed and isolated
symbolically and sometimes geographically as well. In such cases, the
impulse for change must come from outside the community. That is how it
was when the leader of progress was a priest (like Father Bliziński), a rural
teacher, doctor or landlord, which is also how it is now. The inspirer and
initiator of development today can be an individual, but most importantly
it should be expected that development will be taken over by public
authorities and civil society organisations. At the turn of the 20th century,
care for those who found themselves in difficult situations was a moral
obligation of educated people. Currently – 100 years later – the programmes
that grew out of that kind of work to overcome poverty, programmes
which are opposed to social exclusion and social inequality are considered
standards of a democratic state and society. Perhaps, in building a “new
Lisków”, what is most important is not who mobilises the “Liskovians” but
simply that someone does it – a person, a public organisation, or a nongovernmental organisation – which will result in social stimulation and
participation of inhabitants in development efforts.
In many countries, including Poland, local partnership is the inspirer
and initiator of development. It also serves as the “bridge” to and for
neglected communities. Local partnership is “an agreement among three
sectors – public institutes, non-governmental organisations, and enterprises
– that want to act together for the purposes of developing their regions.
This kind of work has a long-term character and the glue that brings the
members together is the shared region where they work and collective
goals that they set for themselves. A specific characteristic of this kind of
agreement is the dynamic of change – local partnership develops gradually,
while the number of members and the range of activities can change”20.
20
R. Serafin, B. Kazior, A. Jarzębska, Grupy partnerskie. Od idei do współdziałania.
Praktyczny poradnik, Fundacja Partnerstwo dla Środowiska, Cracow 2005.
24
Patient work is necessary in order for a community – which is often
passive, wary, and unenthusiastic about change – to accept and later
take over initiatives that were begun from outside. The type of work
is significant here; today we would call it community development.
According to the typical point of view – now already called classic
– community development positions involve work that is carried
out by professional development workers in passive and isolated
communities, where there exists an agreement regarding basic values,
interests, and needs. The purpose is to inspire processes of collaboration,
self-help, and autonomy through the mobilisation of members of the
community. Groups assigned to particular efforts are the vehicles for
change. Their formal status is not important; however, it is important for
the members and leaders of these groups to be recruited from within the
community21. In essence what Father Bliziński did with the Liskovians
– he organised the community, developed collaborative and trustful
relations, and taught effective action – are the same kinds of activities that
are carried out by today’s professional development workers.
The texts that appear in this volume were initially published in Polish.
The bibliography notes regarding the original texts appear next to the title
of each article. We will not repeat them here. We would like to emphasise
that these are not proper translations of the articles. The texts were
condensed before they were translated, and the selection of information
was made with particular attention to the fact that this volume is for nonPolish readers. The editors of this volume took this fact into consideration
during preparation of the text. We attempted to limit details in the
information that would not be understood by readers who are not familiar
with the nuances of our country’s history and many of its “contexts”.
We also limited the number of citations, including those regarding
research materials and responses of interviewees. Finally, we organised
the articles, eliminating all repetitive materials. We added footnotes “from
the editors” in places where we considered them necessary. Moreover,
we limited the number of references to Polish literature, most of which
would be unknown to foreign readers. Of course, before the texts were
published they were authorised by the authors.
21
See: J. Rothman, Three Models of Community Organization Practice, in:
R. Kramer, H. Specht, Readings in Community Organization Practice, Prentice-Hall,
1975. Aside from social activation, Rothman highlights two other models of local
community organisation: social action and social planning.
25
We would like to thank the translators for their successful work.
Professional proof-reading made by Holly Bouma was also a great help.
Thanks to the work of the authors, translators and aditor, this volume is
not a loose collection of translations of texts that were published earlier,
but rather a consistent – that is our hope – description of the development
of the social economy in Poland, illustrated by concrete examples.
We welcome all who are interested.
Part I
Social Economy in Poland: Case Studies
Social Entrepreneurship in Poland
in the 20-Year Period Between
the World Wars1
In contemporary Polish sociology the reflection on the mechanisms
of transformation has been subject to significant evolution. The first
analyses, quite general and full of ideological pathos, treated the
undergoing processes as an expression of inevitable regularities of
a certain effect. The overthrow of communism and return to Europe
were supposed to assure Poland the automatic attainment of democratic
standards characteristic of civil society and the growth of the free market
economy according to the best liberal models. The applied view soon
revealed its limitations: it was too general in the sphere of description
(because it concentrated on institutional changes on the macro-structural
level) and it was quite futile in the theoretical aspect (as a result of the
acceptance of the supposedly universal scheme of transformations) while
showing, at the same time, deficiencies in historical thinking (as a result
of placing the present condition of Western European countries in the
centre of interest while ignoring the diachronic analysis).
Encouraging the creation of a different concept of “transformation
every day”, Andrzej Rychard wrote: “the application of the prospect that
is only macro-systemic has slowly been depleting. New phenomena are
appearing in the social and institutional structure. This process of social
structuring has been, and will be, proceeding rank-and-file, and often
1
The article is an abridged English version of the paper published in Polish as
I. Bukraba-Rylska, Przedsiębiorczość społeczna w Polsce dwudziestolecia
międzywojennego – przykłady, in: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny.
Ekonomia społeczna, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2007, pp. 127–174 (Editors’ note).
30
against the intentions of political élites”2. It has been observed that the
transformation has been occurring not only through “superior political
institutionalisation” but also through “superior social mobilisation”3,
which generates the need to monitor the phenomena on the micro-social
level. Therefore, attention has been drawn to real actions by the people
who implement various strategies of coping with reality in everyday life.
As a consequence, the discourse has been re-oriented and attention has
been drawn to opinions, attitudes and behaviours of the so-called social
actors. The causes for interference and delays have been looked for in
mental barriers, and even the statements of the need to “reconstruct
psychological instruments” of the Polish people emerged4.
This radical approach has also been slowly losing its attractiveness
and explanatory power, which makes researchers seek more adequate
ways of analysing the reality. This time they find it on the meso-social
level – in the lives of local communities and the impact of distant past
that leaves its stamp5 even after a long time has passed. This point of
view concentrates, to a much larger extent than the former concepts of
transformation, on the direction “from”, i.e. the past, than on the direction
“to”, i.e. the future. It is related to the need to consider the changes that
are taking place at present from a historical rather than synchronic point
of view. Therefore, native realities and not the standards achieved in the
West make the best context for consideration. And finally, the interest in
real hard facts – local, historical and cultural appears in place of abstract
schemes of development.
The considerations of factors that favour changes in the country
reflected, to a large extent, the further attitudes of social sciences
towards the problems of transformation. At the beginning, it was
focused on creating legal and institutional frames for the development
of local self-government in rural areas and the liberal economy in
agriculture. Then, when it turned out that the completing the phase of
2
A. Rychard, Społeczeństwo w transformacji: koncepcja i próba syntezy analiz, in:
A. Rychard, M. Federowicz (eds.), Społeczeństwo w transformacji. Ekspertyzy i studia,
IFiS Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 1993, p. 21.
3
W. Morawski, Zmiana instytucjonalna. Społeczeństwo. Gospodarka. Polityka,
PWN Scientific Publishing House, Warsaw 2000.
4
A. Miszalska, Reakcje społeczne na przemiany ustrojowe. Postawy, zachowania
i samopoczucie Polaków w początkach lat dziewięćdziesiątych, Publishing House of the
University of Łódź, Łódź 1996.
5
J. Bartkowski, Tradycja i polityka. Wpływ tradycji kulturowych polskich regionów
na współczesne zachowania społeczne i polityczne, “Żak” and University Publishing
House, Warsaw 2003.
Social Entrepreneurship in Poland in the 20-Year Period Between...
31
authoritative reconstruction of the political system is not synonymous
with the development of democratic and free market behaviours, the
need to discover limitations that block political and economic activity of
inhabitants of rural areas was realised. The initiated research produced
a quite pessimistic diagnosis of the state of human capital, which is most
often measured by the level of knowledge, aspiration and motivation
of people. However, only the notion of social capital that has been
developing in recent years emphasises the importance of operating in
given environment models, standards and skills of cooperation that may
significantly modify both the interaction of macro-structural factors and
the individual predispositions of individual actors.
The phenomenon of entrepreneurship considered in such a broad
sociological and cultural context may become the subject of studies
that will not only lead to the recognition of important mechanisms of
changes in rural areas and the assessment of real state of social resources
of those environments, but will also offer the chance of consolidating
various research concepts (which have been treated alternatively so far).
But above all it will justify the suggestion of transition from a liberal
to a conservative vision of the elements of transformation.
1. The Notion of Rural Entrepreneurship
While writing about entrepreneurship, the authors usually perceive
this notion as specific personality features, attitudes and behaviours
of a person that are based on “the tendency to undertake new actions,
improve the existing elements of the environment and creatively active
attitude towards the reality that is surrounding the individual”6. The scope
of the notion is either narrower or broader, dependently on whether it
takes into account only “the management of the enterprise”7, generally
understood “business activity”8, or whether it is perceived as a method
of self-realisation because it results from “the need of independence,
6
M. Duczkowska-Piasecka, Przedsiębiorczość na wsi, in: A. Woś (ed.),
Encyklopedia agrobiznesu, Innovation Foundation, Higher School of Sociology and
Economics, Warsaw 1998, p. 634.
7
T. Hunek, Makroekonomiczne uwarunkowania rozwoju “small businessu”
na terenach wiejskich, in: K. Duczkowska-Małysz (ed.), Przedsiębiorczość na obszarach
wiejskich. W stronę wsi wielofunkcyjnej, IRWiR Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 1993.
8
A.P. Wiatrak (ed.), Rola doradztwa w kreowaniu przedsiębiorczości na obszarach
wiejskich, IRWiR PAN, Warsaw 1996.
32
motivation to succeed, individualism”9. However, concentrating the
attention on individuals, the tasks of an economic character undertaken
by them (intended to bring profit) and stressing the novelty of their
actions is a common feature of various suggestions for definitions. In fact
an entrepreneurial person perceived in this way becomes a synonym of
a phantom called homo oeconomicus, which is favoured by liberals and is
guided only by rational calculation and an isolated social, historical and
cultural context10.
Contemporary rural sociologists perceive entrepreneurship as an
activity that goes beyond an activity concentrated on farming. Also,
the notion of social entrepreneurship that is becoming more popular
nowadays does not include many aspects that used to be important for the
forms of team cooperation in the country such as orientation at not only
economic profit but also at more superior purposes (shaping civic attitudes
and skills of cooperation, promotion of education, progress in patriotic
and social feelings, moral improvement, etc.). Moreover, references
to standards accepted in the environment that were clear in former
initiatives (that often take the form of conscious reference to traditional
forms of self-organisation and mutual help) and the close relationship of
those initiatives with farming, as the most important purpose of individual
activity that at some point demands complementation in collective actions
directed at the same priority, are often ignored.
All of the mentioned assumptions create such an image of
entrepreneurship that is not only far from the realities observed in many
developing countries and in places where success has already been
accomplished but also that does not allow for taking into account a range
of enterprises typical of the country of the past. As a result, this makes it
impossible to refer (theoretically and practically) to those experiences as
historically verified social resources of rural environments.
The definition of entrepreneurship suggested here refers to
all initiatives undertaken both by individual people (individual
entrepreneurship) and jointly with others, while thinking about a wider
group of beneficiaries (social entrepreneurship), that, while not necessarily
violating conventional values, make an attempt to use available resources
(material and human) in a new way in order to maintain or increase the
9
B. Fedyszak-Radziejowska, Społeczność lokalna a rozwój przedsiębiorczości,
in: M. Kłodziński, A. Rosner (eds.), Rozwój przedsiębiorczości na terenach wiejskich
wschodniego i zachodniego pogranicza, IRWiR PAN, Warsaw 2000, p. 160.
10
See: J. Beksiak (ed.), Państwo w polskiej gospodarce lat dziewięćdziesiątych XX
wieku, PWN Scientific Publishing House, Warsaw 2001.
33
living standards of a family or the whole community. Therefore, placing
entrepreneurship that is perceived in this way in the local context and
not exploiting or even devastating its resources is its essential element;
it is, to a large extent, collective and traditional and not individualistic
entrepreneurship. It is an aspiration to create additional value of a social
character (fulfilment of a liability, earning respect and prestige of the
environment, call an institution of higher utility into being, initiating new
forms of group cooperation and group bonds, etc.).
Extending the range of the notion of entrepreneurship comes
from a conviction, based among others on the readings quoted below,
that entrepreneurship motivated in an endogenous way is practicable
and therefore does not mean the devastation of found order and the
destruction of existing mentality. As it will be shown in cases described
below, the concept that differentiates entrepreneurship from ordinary
resourcefulness or thiftiness (that in turn are based on the efficient use of
existing resources without going beyond previously known and accepted
methods) does not have to be imposed in a strict way. Instead of forming
“creative destruction” it can be negotiated, and so to say familiarised,
and presented in categories that are accepted by the surroundings. Owing
to the use of “soft social engineering” it comes to the weakening or even
levelling of the shock effect, and the new imperceptibly becomes a piece
of tradition and not an element that breaks the continuity and violates the
sense of identity.
Therefore, I suggest analysing entrepreneurship in categories of
ethos activities perceived as “a style, way of life, attitude of a given
social group, moral ones in particular”11. For example, when describing
various forms of economic activity undertaken in Asian countries,
Brigitte Berger declares herself in favour of such a broad treatment of
entrepreneurship. The author indicates that as opposed to the classical
model formulated by Max Weber all initiatives observed by her and
a group of her colleagues were closely related with the orientation
on the family and neighbourhood group (entrepreneurial familism).
In fact, the functioning of such entrepreneurship cannot be explained
in the language of concepts related to the personality of an individual.
As Berger writes, entrepreneurship is a quality of a person “deeply
submerged in their culture”12. It means that market behaviours ought
11
S. Jedynak (ed.), Słownik etyczny, Publishing House of UMCS, Lublin 1990, p. 66.
B. Berger (ed.), The Culture of Entrepreneurship, Institute for Contemporary
Studies, San Francisco 1992.
12
34
to be interpreted not in economic categories but in cultural categories
– the exchange of information, transfer of symbols, operating on values.
Also, it comes out of this that entrepreneurial people, independent of their
inclination to novelties, should manifest a large amount of conformity,
i.e. they should be quite typical representatives of their group. Otherwise
they would not have any chances to become a local authority and their
behaviours would not be followed.
The literature related to the Polish countryside (farmers’ diaries,
speeches by social activists, scientific studies) is very rich. Analysing
manifestations of entrepreneurship, at first individual and then social,
illustrated by specific exemplifications aims at both documentary value
and theoretical intentions: to suggest a hypothesis that concerns the
relationship between the first and the second form of entrepreneurship
and the relationship (mechanisms of transposition) that joins both types
of capital (human and social) with entrepreneurship phenomena.
2. Individual Rural Entrepreneurship
There is unanimity among the scholars that villein service left
a particularly unfavourable stamp on the psyche of the Polish farmer
and on the organisation of rural life13. Also, they share the opinion that
threefold dependency (personal, land and court) furnished the farmer
with the “second spirit” deprived of initiatives, servile and full of fear14.
Four hundred years of the paternalist rule of landowners undoubtedly
influenced not only the mentality of the individuals but also seriously
weakened the social capital of the country. Such qualities like a generalised
lack of trust and suspiciousness (not only towards the lords and officials
but even towards the closest neighbours), reluctance towards large-scale
undertakings, particularly collective with strongly developed everyday
resourcefulness (many times taking the form of “wheeling and dealing”
and even pathology – for example common thefts) and the fear of changes
strengthened by respect for authorities were formed in that period.
In farmers’ diaries excerpts that prove the appearance of such
phenomena can easily be found. Except for traditional forms of
cooperation (help with the harvest or in cases of natural disasters) it was
13
See: M. Kula (ed.), Listy emigrantów z Brazylii i Stanów Zjednoczonych (1890–
1891), Cooperative Publishing House, Warsaw 1973.
14
See: J. Bojko, Dwie dusze, in: J. Bojko, Gorące słowa. Pisma wybrane,
Universitas, Cracow 2003.
35
difficult to convince the inhabitants of a village to take part in working for
a common good (drainage, building a road, digging a well). The perfect
characteristics of such an attitude has been presented by Franciszek
Bujak: “lack of the feeling of community, lack of solidarity and no
undertaking that requires a larger number of partners would be a success
here. Everyone will make an effort, but only if he or she knows that it
will bring profit only to him or her and nobody else”15. It even happened
that a farmer preferred to expose himself to a loss than to do something
that somebody else could also benefit from. There were a lot of cases that
even if the necessary investment was carried out its initiator had to bear
the neighbours’ complaints for many years.
Resistance to innovations used in agriculture was equally strong.
Ambitious forerunners were laughed at and criticised and many times
there were confrontations between them and the rest of the village
inhabitants. Thus, how did it happen that the management of their own
farm improved, that decisions to emigrate to America were made, and
additional extra-farming activities to earn money that had not been done
before in the neighbourhood were undertaken? A detailed analysis of
a larger number of cases makes it possible to understand this and through
this to slightly change a fixed, quite stereotypical vision of the Polish
village of the past.
Referring to detailed descriptions of cases reported by diary keepers
and authors of monographs allows us to recognise the mechanisms and
conditions of the real activity of village inhabitants that were manifested
almost on the next day after statute-labour was abolished, and even
earlier, although not in such an obvious way. Therefore, we have the
impression that the human potential of the Polish countryside was not
destroyed but frozen, and this energy that accumulated for centuries
manifested itself as massive, intense and large-scale efforts undertaken
to strengthen and develop one’s own farm. Two domains at which we can
trace certain and dynamic manifestations of individual entrepreneurship,
i.e. labour migration and rural crafts, will be observed.
Labour Migration
Even superficial study of a real mobility of peasants since the post
returning-property period undermines the sharpness of repeatedly
15
F. Bujak, Maszkienice, wieś powiatu brzeskiego. Stosunki gospodarcze i społeczne,
„Rozprawy Akademii Umiejętności. Wydział Historyczno-Filozoficzny”, Cracow 1901,
Ser. II, Vol. XVI, p. 105.
36
formulated statements about their supposedly little dynamics or
unwillingness to take a risk that are related to the change of the type
of work or place of residence for example. This opinion is not verified
by historical data16.
The study of the process of emigration for earning money from the
area of Poland, that particularly spread in the Polish countryside in the last
quarter of 19th century in all three annexed territories allows for similarly
optimistic conclusions. This phenomenon that is not easy to assess in
quantity, had two basic types: permanent migration (or for a few years
or repeated several times) and seasonal migration that lasted for a few
months in a year, but also undertaken repeatedly.
Permanent migration, mostly directed to the USA (but also to Brazil,
Canada and European countries), made before 1914 was a minimum of
3.7 million people (1.2 million from the Prussian annexed territory, 1.4
from Russia, and 1.1 million from the territory annexed by Austria)17.
During World War I and the after-war period the next 5 million migrants
left, which were in the vast majority the inhabitants of the rural areas.
Then, seasonal migrations caused movement of people assessed
at 2.6% of all the inhabitants of Polish people in the territory annexed
by Prussia, 3.3% in the territory annexed by Russia and 5-6% in the
territory annexed by Austria (not including 3% of Russian people from
the area of eastern Galicia). In areas of strong traditions of migration the
percentage of people who left was even four times higher18. Calculations
made by Franciszek Bujak in ten villages of western Galicia in 1911
showed that on average almost 13% of inhabitants (from 5.25% to 20%)
left those villages for a period of about half a year19. If it is assessed that
nowadays about 2% of the world population (about 140 million) reside in
countries that are not their homeland and the data show the dynamics of
social mobility in the period of globalisation20, then what ought to be said
about the Polish territory where every year 700,000 people, that is 4%
16
See: F. Koneczny, Polskie Logos a Ethos. Roztrząsania o znaczeniu i celu Polski,
St. Wojciech Bookshop, Warsaw–Poznań 1921, pp. 66–67.
17
A. Pilch (ed.), Emigracja z ziem polskich w czasach nowożytnych i najnowszych
(XVIII–XX w.), PWN, Warsaw 1984.
18
W. Bronikowski, Drogi postępu chłopa polskiego, State Scientific Institute of
Farms, Warsaw-Puławy 1934.
19
F. Bujak, Maszkienice, wieś powiatu brzeskiego. Rozwój od r. 1900 do 1911,
„Rozprawy Akademii Umiejętności. Wydział Historyczno-Filozoficzny”, Cracow 1914,
Ser. II, Vol. XXXIII, Part. I.
20
K. Romaniszyn, Kulturowe implikacje międzynarodowych migracji, Catholic
University of Lublin, Lublin 2003, p. 34.
37
of the whole population, not including migration to America, seasonally
migrated21.
Thus, the farmers that had been attached to the land before left their
villages in large numbers and set off to the world, even on the other
side of the ocean. And there, being farmers and peasants for many
generations, they were forced to live their lives in a large city and work
in modern factories. And from there, often still being illiterate, they sent
to their country (apart from a lot of money) long letters, often in the
form of poems. Hardly could we find a larger concentration of surprises
and paradoxes, and also a better confirmation of the determination and
ability to face new challenges. Certainly, those Polish peasants, with their
actions, gave perfect evidence of the large “resource of pre-industrial
energy”, not a bit smaller than the one that was attributed by Arnold
Toynbee22 to the western middle-class that started creating capitalism.
Migration movements were in no way a new phenomenon in the
traditions of the Polish countryside. Almost right after the property had
been returned, migrations for earning money to close and distant places
to work on building roads, railroads, construction works and mines (both
domestic and foreign) began. Migrants agreed to work as servants in cities
and do seasonal work in the field. As a result of such large and massive
migrations, independent of the seasons, Polish villages were changing
(similar to Eskimo settlements described by Marcel Mauss) beyond
all recognition: “the country presents a different image in winter and
in summer. In the summertime it is quiet and deserted and on holidays
only builders and carpenters appear in some number. In the wintertime
it is noisy and busy, when all the migrants who worked in Europe have
returned. After a hard-working and sparing working period, a relatively
short period of rest comes in the winter”23.
The assessment of the importance of labour migration is neither easy
nor unequivocal. Definitely, this phenomenon proves the real courage,
perseverance and cleverness of the countryside inhabitants. The reaction
of German scientists who anxiously reported the range of migration
and its consequences defined from their prospect as ostflucht, i.e. the
withdrawal of German elements from the East towards the West under
the pressure of the Polish population, shows how massive the tendency
was and what important international role it played. Weber analysed this
21
A. Mytkowicz, Powstanie i rozwój emigracji sezonowej, Publishing House of the
Economic Institute N.K.N., Cracow 1917, books XX and XXI, p. 154.
22
A. J. Toynbee, A Study of History, Oxford University Press, London 1956.
23
F. Bujak, Maszkienice, wieś powiatu brzeskiego. Rozwój..., op. cit., p. 108.
38
process in the categories of the economic displacement of Germans who
were placed higher in civilisation ranks by Polish people who had low
expectations of living standards24.
While admitting that “none of the countries in Western Europe has
such good material for settlers as Poland”25, Polish scientists indicated
many unfavourable consequences of such massive migration. Migrating
people often underwent demoralisation, marriages split, there were a lot
of diseases and accidents at work, and as a result fertility was lower and
getting married at an older age resulted in the decrease in the birth rate.
While assessing migration from the point of view of the whole society,
also large financial losses (costs related to departure abroad), as well as
indirect losses (the loss of human capital) were stressed26.
But for the Polish countryside, migration (European and American
even more) also produced indisputable beneficial effects, starting from
indisputable financial profits (that allowed migrants to pay back debts
and invest in farms)27, and ending with positive changes in the sphere
of mentality. “They are not peasantry of the old-time type [...] helpless
and passive in general. Their breath of mind immensely broadens, and
the social and touring prospect is formed thanks to the experience gained
from journeys to distant countries and contacts with so many different
people and relationship”28.
Migrations undoubtedly contributed to progress in agriculture
and the improvement of the living standard; they also influenced the
individualisation of attitudes of the inhabitants and caused transfers in
the social structure of the countryside. However, this fact is also reported
unanimously by all the scholars, and in some specific way they maintained
the traditional structure of rural life, reinforcing the importance of having
the land as fundamental for living and as the main indicator of prestige.
Even the factors influencing the decision of departure had nothing in
common with the need to start a completely new life and an absolute
change of fate. The reasons for migrating solely derived from the logic
of peasant management: “they did not go to America under the influence
24
See: M. Weber, Państwo narodowe a narodowa polityka gospodarcza, in: Polityka
jako zawód i powołanie, Znak Social Publishing Institute, Cracow 1998, p. 179.
25
Z. Ludkiewicz, Podręcznik polityki agrarnej, Publishing Committee of University
Books at the Ministry Of Religious Beliefs and Public Enlightenment, Warsaw 1932,
p. 242.
26
See: A. Jarzyna, Polityka emigracyjna, Polish Book Publishing House, Warsaw
1933, p. 7.
27
W. Witos, Moje wspomnienia, Literary Institute, Paris 1964, Vol. I, p. 190.
28
39
of innovative social aspirations. They went there to buy another cow,
to build a barn or to pay off their brother or sister”29.
The strong influence of traditions and habits of the rural community
also influenced the life of an emigrant to America. Still he was under
the control of his family and neighbours and did not stop feeling like
a member of this group. The letters that have already been mentioned here
many times carried actual information, gossip and instructions. It was
not rare that a relative and a parish circle, which was a smaller imitation
of the village, was recreated after emigration30. Emigration also roused
patriotic and civic attitudes, increasing the interest in the problems of
the whole village and not only of the closest family members. Collective
actions for the benefit of the local community were undertaken, various
initiatives and functioning of local institutions were financially supported
and pressure was exerted to preserve tradition31.
Those migrants who went to work on farms on the other side of the
ocean (like for example in Canada) proved to be extremely resistant
to the modernising influence of those who employed the latest types of
management and who with obduracy stuck to the traditional peasant
philosophy of cultivating everything in a little amount and for their
own needs. However, it did not necessarily have only negative results.
It allowed them to protect themselves from hunger in the period of
economic crisis, when farm production for sale temporarily decreased32.
Travelling across the ocean did not result in negligence of traditional
moral standards. Observance of the principles that certified the family
status of an independent farmer-manager, even if he was too rich, was
still controlled.
Also, after the emigrant came back home, his life did not change
radically33. Strong conformity was marked for example in clothing.
Immediately after arrival to the village, American clothes, which could be
seen in the photos that were shown to neighbours, were put into a chest
29
K. Duda-Dziewierz, Wieś małopolska a emigracja amerykańska. Studium wsi
Babica powiatu rzeszowskiego, Polish Sociological Institute, Warsaw-Poznań 1938, p. 85.
30
Compare the description of such a copy-village built in the USA in: R. Kantor,
Między Zaborowem a Chicago. Kulturowe konsekwencje istnienia zbiorowości imigrantów z parafii zaborowskiej w Chicago i jej kontaktów z rodzimymi wsiami, Ossolineum,
Wrocław–Warsaw–Cracow 1990.
31
Ibid.; also see: M. Wieruszewska-Adamczyk, Przemiany społeczności wiejskiej.
Zaborów po 35 latach, IRWiR Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 1978.
32
See: K. Romaniszyn, Chłopi polscy w Kanadzie (1896–1939), IRWiR Polish
Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 1991, p. 50.
33
See: K. Duda-Dziewierz, op. cit., p. 86.
40
and the people wore clothes accepted by the environment. The situation
was similar in case of food and methods of management34.
What conclusion can emerge from the study of the phenomenon
that breaking the isolation of the village and allowing its inhabitants
to set off and travel to the wide world finally ties them even stronger
with their primary environment and traditional way of life? It seems
that we should interpret it as a manifestation of social resourcefulness
that makes it possible to join “the game for adaptation” with the “game
for authenticity”. The range of this resourcefulness may be described as
impressive, thus proving the potential of the human capital and individual
entrepreneurship begun by it. The second sphere, in which we can
observe similar regularities, is professional extra-agricultural activity
by the inhabitants of the countryside.
Domestic Craft and Village Enterprises
The popular idea that at the turn of the 20th century the Polish
village was inhabited only by people who worked in land cultivation is
groundless. In the middle of the 19th century, still before bestowing the
property, the Polish village was inhabited by people who were subject
to serfdom but also peasants who had their own farms as well as landless
peasants35. Craft manufacture was flourishing even at that time36.
The studies of the social and professional structure carried out
before World War II showed that although among the rural population
independent farmers dominated (70%), hired workers employed in
agriculture and non-farming workers (white-collar workers, labourers,
pensioners and village entrepreneurs) were also present37. On each farm,
apart from the land cultivation and stock-breeding, people worked in
the domestic industry for their own needs. Regular money making from
a craft was practised more often depending on the size of the farm (in
up to 86% of tiny farms – up to 2 ha – farming was just a marginal
occupation; in small farms – up to 5 ha – it was like that in 73% of
34
See: K. Zawistowicz-Adamska, Społeczność wiejska. Doświadczenia i rozważania
z badań terenowych w Zaborowie, Polish Institute of Social Services, Łódź 1948, p. 69.
35
See J. Kochanowicz, Pańszczyźniane gospodarstwo chłopskie w Królestwie
Polskim w pierwszej połowie XIX, Publications of the University of Warsaw, Warsaw
1981.
36
J. Supiński, Szkoła polska gospodarstwa społecznego, Ossolineum, Lwów 1862,
Vol. I, p. 320.
37
K. Bentlewska, Wiejscy procederzyści, renciści oraz pracownicy umysłowi
i fizyczni o stałych uposażeniach, in: E. Strzelecki et al. (eds.), Struktura społeczna wsi
polskiej, “Sprawy Agrarne” 1937, No. 1, p. 257.
41
cases38). The variety of those occupations was large, and particular
villages could be referred to as multifunctional. At the top of the hierarchy
carpentry was found and weaving was also very popular. Almost every
village, or at least every parish, had a few blacksmiths, shoemakers,
a wheeler, a cooper, a saddler; people worked in furriery, hats were sewn,
gloves were made, baskets were caned, there were bakers, butchers
and barber-surgeons. There were also potters, drapers, gravediggers,
carpenters, bricklayers and whitesmiths.
Some villages even became specialised industrial and craft centres.
And so for example in the Żmiąca village even at the end of the 18th
century a steelwork, where they produced china, bottles and thick glasses
for windows, existed39. Then, the village of Świątniki Górne from the
Cracow land district became a typical craft village even in the 19th century
because the majority of its inhabitants worked in padlock production. Three
workshops functioned here and each of them gave employment to 10 to 40
workers, 50 small factories and a locksmith’s school were operating. The
school graduates could easily find work even in Budapest, Vienna, Berlin,
Brussels, and France. Merchants from Świątniki travelled with their goods
to Hungary and Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Austria and the Balkans,
and after the World War I they controlled the market in Poland40.
In smaller villages joining a few skills was a rule because one trade
did not give enough income. However, many times joining farming
with a marginal activity was not caused by an insufficient level of
income obtained from the farm but by a well-considered concept (which
nowadays we would call a business plan) and the conscious decision of
an entrepreneur who was prospering well41.
Obviously, just like in the case of migration, all additional income
was considered by smaller and larger village entrepreneurs only
to complement the income from the farm and the financial surplus was
firstly assigned to buy more land, which sometimes might have played
a decisive role. Therefore, the cases in which craftsmen returned
to farming after they had saved some money were not rare42. Moreover,
the inhabitants of suburban villages who even neglected the cultivation of
38
Ibid.
F. Bujak, Żmiąca, wieś powiatu limanowskiego. Stosunki gospodarcze i społeczne,
Gebethner and Company, Cracow 1903, p. 109.
40
W. Kwaśniewicz, Wiejska społeczność rzemieślnicza w procesie przemian,
Ossolineum, Wrocław–Warsaw 1970.
41
See: F. Guściora, op.cit., p. 81.
42
See: Ibid., p. 83.
39
42
land in the period of prosperity in industry did not dispose of the land and
in the period of crisis they started farming again.
This fact of persistence of peasants regarding land extremely intrigued
the authors who wrote about the countryside. It was interpreted (and still
it is interpreted) as the manifestation of a “psychosis of possession”43,
or “the expression of inheritance of the farming profession”44. However,
we can suggest one more explanation. The possession of land is the
“provision for the future and independence, somehow it is a savings
bank. The major maintenance base for the farmer is his work both in his
own farm and in other people’s farms (enterprises), but the possession of
land is the guarantee for the farmer that in case of periodic or temporary
shortage of work he will be able to survive and protect himself against the
lowering of the price of his work”45. A piece of land was for the farmer’s
family “the only provision for older age, or in case of unemployment or
the premature death of the father of the family”46.
It is obvious that very reasonably calculated reasons lay at the
foundation of the attachment to the land, especially because other
possibilities to invest surplus money were not too attractive. When
analysing the phenomenon described as the attachment to land we ought
to pay attention to one factor. Managing a tiny farm, and such farms
were predominant, at best gave a very modest maintenance for the
family members and only exceptionally provided the means for investing
in its development (not mentioning the payment of taxes). Aiming at
the expansion and intensification of production, the farmer needed
to have additional sources of financing it, and undertaking circumstantial
employment on the premises, seasonal migrations and particularly
leaving for the USA for several years served that. The scale of income
gained from other sources was large considering the conditions of the
Polish countryside. For example, for the village of Maszkienice, Bujak
calculated this amount for the turn of the 20th century at the minimum of
12,000 zlotys a year, while the income from the land and household was
10,000 zlotys at maximum (for the whole village) in the same period47.
What conclusions can be drawn from the above review of various
forms of entrepreneurship developed by the farmers who looked for
43
K. Gorlach, Chłopi, rolnicy, przedsiębiorcy. “Kłopotliwa klasa” w Polsce
postkomunistycznej, Publishing House of Jagiellonian University, Cracow 1995.
44
F. Bujak, Maszkienice, wieś powiatu brzeskiego. Stosunki..., op. cit.
45
46
K. Bentlewska, op.cit., p. 276.
47
43
additional sources of income without leaving their village? Similar
to migration, it ought to be stressed that the cleverness, creativity
and diligence of farmers is impressive. Often forced by the extreme
necessity of life, motivated by the will of promotion in the village social
hierarchy and the need to secure the future of their children, they took
up various activities and professions. Doing this, they proved not only
their resourcefulness and a sense of economy (the reasonable joining of
complementary undertakings), but they equally well competed with more
experienced entrepreneurs from cities.
Activities were usually initiated with the thought of staying in the
village. Therefore, the traditional form of life not only turned out not
to be an obstacle to undertaking new challenges but it even motivated
them to act. Strengthening the position in the community and not the
contestation of the standards operating there or even breaking all the ties
with the community was to be the result of all the efforts. Certainly such
behaviours deserve to be called ethos and they carry out the principles
of both “the game for adaptation” and “the game for authenticity”. The
regularities observed so far suggest the need to consider in the study of
the aspects of entrepreneurship (individual and social) the fundamental
fact that it came out of the needs and values of rural life and it was also
targeted at it. Therefore, the analysis of particular examples of social
entrepreneurship in the first half of the 20th century has to be accompanied
by the awareness that they became possible thanks to migration and
aspirations that were awoken by versatile professional activity which was
still focused on the farm, and because of that, in their shape, they were
conditioned by the traditional standards of a rural community.
3. Social Entrepreneurship in the Countryside
Bestowing the property that placed the peasant in a direct relationship
not with the farm’s owner, who mainly demanded the benefits in kind,
but with the state that collected taxes caused the necessity of converting
farms into the money economy. The intensification of production
became the fundamental target for them. Mass participation of peasants
in parcelling out land property (money brought from emigration made it
possible to buy land but at the same time this caused a significant increase
in prices) served that. There also appeared the demand for cooperative
institutions as well as credit and trade ones that were to provide services
to developing agriculture. While joining such common enterprises,
44
general intentions that included contributing to the social, cultural and
civilisation progress of the countryside, the development of the individual
and others were formed alongside with economic targets.
The question of the change of the attitude of the countryside
inhabitants towards collective actions was much worse. With respect
to this, the heritage of villein service did a lot of durable wrong
to the Polish countryside. Nevertheless, although it demanded special
endeavours and conditions, it was possible even here to realise the
intentions. First of all, it could happen thanks to the respect the initiators
of such undertakings (local authorities) had, and, what is equally
important, as a result of tactics skilfully employed by those people, that
certified that they were people “deeply submerged in their culture” which
was stressed by Brigitte Berger mentioned above. The examples of these
types of perspicacity and skilful behaviour are provided, among others,
by Witos’s diaries, and particularly by the story of the road widening in
the farmstead of Dwudniaki48. It is an instructive, even model example
of “soft” social engineering, which is made in such a way that it does
not ridicule people, does not criticise existing customs, does not impose
strange models of behaviour, but instead refers to the principles accepted
by the environment and can guess the partners’ expectations.
Development of Institutions in the Countryside
The need and possibilities to form organisations among Polish
peasants appeared only after villein service was abolished, that is
after personal independence and land property was guaranteed. For the
formation of peasants’ organisations among farmers, it was also necessary
to acknowledge the legitimacy of social organisations by the annexing
countries and the appearance of activists and awakening of interests
among the peasants.
The first circles of peasants came into existence on the territory
annexed by Prussia in the 1860s, in territories annexed by Austria in
the 1880s and in the territory annexed by Russia on the turn of the 20th
century. Right before the World War I it was respectively 15%, 9% and 4%
of the total number of peasants in each of the annexed territories49. Farm
partnerships such as credit and commercial cooperatives, village shops,
parcelling out cooperatives and diaries were founded in direct relationship
48
See: W. Witos, op. cit., pp. 221–222.
W. Bronikowski, Drogi postępu chłopa Polskiego, National Scientific Institute of
Farms, Warsaw–Puławy 1934.
49
45
with the circles. Activity of various types of banks that most often referred
to Schulze’s (later the so-called Stefczyk’s bank) and Raiffeisen’s banks
included around 30% of Polish farms in the territory annexed by Prussia,
over 25% of farms in the territory annexed by Austria and more than
10% of farms in the territory annexed by Russia. Among commercial
initiatives, the “Rolniki” of Father Wawrzyńczak, which were founded
on the territory annexed by Prussia since 1900 ought to be mentioned.
On average there were two such companies in every magistrate district,
but after the war majority of them fell into decline50. On the territory
annexed by Austria, village shops mainly directed to compete with Jewish
trade were rapidly developing (before World War I there were about
3,000 of them, but because of the lack of loans, insufficient skills of the
organising parties and quite often the fraud of salesmen only 476 of them
survived). Also the development of dairies was not too intense (before
1914–109). On the territory annexed by Russia dairy cooperative societies
functioned well (177 before the war).
The period after the war was characterised by the consolidation of
dispersed activities and the unification of various organisational forms,
adapted to former, significantly differentiated conditions. In 1927
there existed over 3,500 credit cooperative societies that associated
about 1 million members. It was almost equal to 20% of all the farms
in the country. Commercial cooperative societies made 782 entities and
concentrated about 111,000 members (2.7% of all the farms belonged
to them). There were 1,142 federative dairy cooperative societies and they
had nearly 169,000 members (which made 5.1% of farms)51.
The need to develop economic activity as well as compliance with
the principles of Christian morality, bringing up in the spirit of national
solidarity, shaping of characters, aspiration for independence, support
for initiatives that aim at public utility (building of hospitals, churches,
schools) and the awakening of patriotism (Małopole cooperative banks
made and provided equipment for 2,000 Polish Legions) were stressed
in the statutes of organisations, associations and cooperative societies.
Therefore, without exaggerating we can state that the cooperative
movement, apart from gaining economic results, was also a “perfect
school of civic and public life in the countryside”52.
50
Ibid., p. 99.
T. Kłapkowski, Spółdzielczość w rolnictwie polskim, National Scientific Institute
of Farms, Warsaw 1929.
52
Ibid., p. 257.
51
46
Now that we have analysed the activities related to social
entrepreneurship in the whole country, it is time to characterise them
more precisely in the local sphere. In order to do this, we shall refer
to descriptions of several villages in which such types of enterprises
were undertaken, that is, the initiatives realised with the participation of
a wider number of participants and intended for the benefit of the total
population. Special emphasis will be placed on the following elements:
the initiator, circle of his co-workers (or sometimes only the executors of
his plans), types of institutions brought into existence and the sequence
of their appearance, formulated targets, methods of work (especially the
use of traditional social capital). If we attempted to provide a provisional
typology of quoted case studies, we could define Lisków as an example
illustrating the role of a single authority (Father Bliziński), Handzlówka
as a model image of activities of a local elite and Zaborów as an example
of the activity of a collective actor, that is the village that was subject
to the influence of migration.
Case Studies
Lisków
Almost since the beginning of the 20th century Lisków in the Kalisz
Voivodeship has been a generally accepted example of a “perfect village”,
in which the local community was stimulated and with their engagement it
was possible to realise a lot of plans that bring profit to all the inhabitants.
The arrival of Wacław Brzeziński, the priest who came from Warsaw, in
this neglected village53 in 1900 was the turning point. The methodical
work of the rural parson who wanted to do best for his parishioners started
gradually to bring results, although “the conditions at that time were very
bad”54 – road transport to nearby villages, ignorance (87% illiteracy), loose
social and family ties as a result of the vicinity of Prussia and opportunities
for migration to make money, the distrustful attitude of local manor-houses,
and the unfavourable attitude of the occupants.
The first idea was to open a small shop because the authorities would
not have agreed to establish an association. This partnership shop became
the “mother of other institutions” and in fact played the role of a tavern
53
See: M. Moczydłowska, Wieś Lisków na podstawie wiadomości zebranych
na miejscu, “Gazeta Kaliska”, 1913; A. Chmielińska, Wieś polska Lisków w ziemi
kaliskiej, “Gospodarz” Association, Lisków 1925.
54
W. Bliziński, Działalność spółdzielni i organizacji rolniczych w Liskowie,
Association of Farming Cooperative Societies, Warsaw 1928.
47
and peasants’ club, giving the inhabitants the “possibility to bring up other
problems that made the life in the village easier”. The next investment
was a bakery, in which the baker received, apart from his salary, two
kilograms of bread every day. Then, farming and the trading cooperative
society and the mill (the steam one since 1916) came into existence, and
in 1911 – after two years of persuasion – a dairy cooperative society,
that, at the beginning had nine members (the priest, parish organist, the
landowner and five farmers), but after a month it already had eighteen
members. At the end of the 1920s it comprised 1220 members and had
nine branches; also, mutual cow insurance was introduced.
Convincing Polish peasants to intensify milk production was, which
we do not fully realise nowadays, a real revolution with both economic
and cultural consequences. Because the cows had been bred before mainly
for manure which was necessary to fertilise the land, the small amount of
milk given by a badly raised cow was treated as a by-product, which, if it
had not been used for one’s own needs, was sold and made the farmer’s
wife’s income. The chance to make additional and quite considerable
income from the possessed cow convinced the peasants to invest in its
maintenance but at the same time caused the change in the moral pattern
of the division of the farm into a woman’s and man’s part. The wife had
to share the income from the sale of milk, which started to be regular and
considerable at that time, with her husband55.
Since 1910 Stefczyk’s purse and a separate purse for children have
existed in Lisków. Then a constructional cooperative society, a brickyard
and concrete production plant were set up, the Community House was built
(although Father Bliziński had to bring an action against parishioners for
the land on which the house was built, and the proceedings at law lasted
for several years), as well as a steam bath and nursing home for elderly
people. The Fire Brigade, Agricultural Association and Associations of
Farmers’ Wives that ran orphanages started their activity too. Lisków was
also famous for schools (since 1913 an agricultural one that offered a five-month farming courses, a dairy one that mainly attracted young people
from border areas and a craft and industrial one that trained ironworkers,
mechanics and toy-producers; they organised courses in fashion, sewing,
embroidery, rug-making, weaving and housework, mainly for visitors
from outside Lisków). In 1920 the local orphanage changed into orphanasylum with its own hospital and dental care. In Lisków an amateur
theatre and a choir were operating; lotteries, nativity plays and various
55
Ibid.
48
actions were organised, which raised money to support the funds of
educational and tutorial institutions.
All these impressive accomplishments were mainly achieved because
of the parson’s initiative, his tireless energy and patience. As he used
to write, the condition for success in the social work that he undertook in
Lisków was first of all the personal dedication of the animator, persistent
work with and for the people, exclusion from politics and attracting
women. Father Bliziński convinced himself very quickly that “in general,
a woman has a significant influence on her husband and family”. When
he worked only with men, their wives, as he remembered, even terrorised
their husbands who came back home late from meetings. Therefore,
peasants started to leave the cooperative society. Only after women had
been invited to cooperate was the activity of the society activated because
the women started taking initiative themselves and they also demanded
activity from their husbands.
Lisków was a kind of verification for the well-known proverb that
says that the most difficult thing is just about to begin. Father Bliziński
made his parishioners aware that realised investments not only bring
a direct economic benefit but also contribute to the development of
infrastructure and enterprises of a social and cultural character.
In spite of numerous successful undertakings in Lisków, their
unequivocal assessment is not easy. Nobody denied Father Bliziński’s
achievements at work or measurable results represented by functioning
institutions. However, there were doubts related to something else.
The question of to what extent those achievements could be attributed
only to the priest’s activity and to what extent the inhabitants contributed
to them was asked. A closer look at the situation there led to the following
diagnosis: “All that we look at with admiration in Lisków, as Stefania
Bojarska who went to the villages in all three annexed territories wrote,
only proves the large amount of energy and almost inexhaustible capital
of Bliziński’s optimism. All the appliances, which could be judged
by intelligent peasants as visitors to Lisków from various parts of the
country, unfortunately have only one fault: they did not grow out of the
collective thirst of parishioners from Lisków – it was as if they were
a ‘godsend’, and this can be seen with blinding brightness to everybody
who can observe the phenomena of social nature”56.
Therefore, Father Bliziński has been described by the author in the
following way: it is the work of an idealist of a conservative tendency
56
S. Bojarska, Nasz dorobek kulturalny, Family Chronicle, Warsaw 1916, Vol. III
– Królestwo Polskie, p. 248.
49
and a noble philanthropist. That is the work based on individual work and
a concept, and accomplished by this individual, without this socialising
and highly democratic element, that is the cooperation of neighbours from
the closest surroundings”57.
Thus, the replacement of authentic rank-and-file activity by a social
worker’s activity of the parson did not stimulate the social capital of the
inhabitants, which meant that everything that managed to be created in the
village was at risk of falling together with the retirement of the promoter
of changes.
The convictions of Lisków observers about the disadvantages of true
social life was confirmed by the fact that this “‘ideal village’ contributed
to the growth of the level of socialising and culture of the closest
surroundings and the Lisków population to a higher level in a very small
extent but worked with contagious good example well-known from the
description and telling the stories all over the country”58. Therefore, Lisków
was a training ground for the activists and instructors to gain experience
rather than a real model village in which it was possible to move social
capital and stimulate the civic behaviours of the inhabitants.
Another objection referred to the shape of Lisków, its appearance
and specificity. According to Bojarska, because of the institutions
accumulated there, which sometimes were even more useful to visitors
from outside than the local people, it was not only the village, but
something in-between the traditional village and an industrialised town
of the industrial settlement type that additionally did not bring positive
aesthetic impressions. Therefore, the author warned against the uncritical
imitation of this model.
The example of Lisków interpreted in this way shall therefore be
rather a kind of warning against bringing into effect, in village areas,
the ambitious ideas brought from outside and forced into the local
community thanks to the dedication of animators or, at present, thanks
to the acquisition of some funds from the distribution list. Social
entrepreneurship artificially stimulated, and not resulting from the
possibilities or aspirations of local environment, shall the least lead to the
creation of a specific type of Potiomkin village.
Handzlówka
The state that is totally different from Lisków is shown by the
example of the Handzlówka village from the magistrate district of Łańcut.
57
58
Ibid., pp. 250–251.
Ibid., p. 248.
50
Although here equally large merits for its development are also attributed
to the priest (Władysław Krakowski), he did not find idle land but well-prepared grounds and he could support actions undertaken by the local
people – he did not have to initiate them himself or even convince
resistant individuals. Franciszek Magryś, who performed duties of the
municipal man of letters for 40 years, was the true founding father, the
initiator of undertakings and animator of the local community. Before
Father Krakowski came to Handzlówka in 1889, Magryś had acted there
for 15 years. He made himself known to the inhabitants while writing
letters to their relatives in the army or while organising rosary associations
together with them. As a firm adversary of drunkenness, Magryś was also
the initiator of the action that aimed at discouraging the peasants from
visiting the tavern right after Sunday mass.
Because the previous parson of Handzlówka fell ill with epilepsy, at
the meeting of the local council Magryś put forward a suggestion to send
a delegation to the bishop with a request to appoint a new priest for the
village. Then, as one of the delegates, he went to Przemyśl, and as a result
of that soon a new priest, Władysław Krakowski, came to the village.
After Krakowski had recognised local relationships he suggested running
the school. Again, Magryś had to persuade the insubordinates, but soon
the school started its work in an old cottage renovated by the community.
A lot of men of great worth and activists graduated from that school: Jan
Sobek, the member of parliament from peasant party, who contributed
to the foundation of the farming association, a shop, a dairy and joint
company bank and also distinguished himself by arranging a reading
room for young people and motivated them to social work; Walenty
Rajzer, the older brother in rosary associations, the chairman in the shop
and the dairy; Jan Lenar, the founder of fire brigade and its commander-in-chief; Jan Rajzer – the shopkeeper and organiser of the training for the
farmers’ wives, which was run by the nuns.
The foundation of the farming association was another Magryś’s
initiatives. He understood the value of that institution. He convinced the
rural council to buy the building for the Community House and then he
went to Father Krakowski to discuss the foundation of the association.
The priest supported this initiative while preaching from the pulpit59. Just
like in Lisków, the women were at the beginning reluctant towards their
husbands’ activity in the association so Magryś also organised regular
59
F. Magryś: Żywot chłopa-działacza, “Library of History and Culture of the Village,
Lwów 1932, Vol. 1, p. 197.
51
meetings for them. After a few years, at the women’s initiative, their own
farming association was founded.
In 1901 Father Krakowski suggested founding the Raiffeisen purse
(later called Stefczyk’s purse). This time Magryś also started campaigning
and, in spite of hard beginnings, the purse began to operate. It was similar
to the launch of the farming association’s shop, the building of a new
Community House, church, presbytery and stone bridges.
The most exhausting and difficult idea was to build a new church,
which was claimed by Father Krakowski because the old wooden church
from the 19th century was already devastated. Therefore, the meeting of the
whole rural borough was called but the arguments and persuasions did not
work that time. Some people were against that idea and some others did not
approve of the suggested location. Magryś did not gave in and continued
agitation until he succeeded. The construction that was started lasted for
several years. Father Krakowski died in this period and the building was
finished by his successor – 9 years after the construction started.
After World War I finished the activity of local institution began again.
Magryś did not allow hiring the shop that belonged to the association
and made the new parson, church warden and a few landlords place high
shares to make the shop that was destroyed by war start working again.
After a period of complete failure, the dairy was also raised. In addition,
the peasant theatre which Franciszek Pieniążek, the teacher of the local
school, was involved in running, started working again.
Magryś’s activity was not only limited to organisational work but
many times it took a material and financial form. In order to express
thanks to Magryś for his engagement in activities for the benefit of the
home village, a park was named after him, and in 1928 he received the
Silver Order of Merit from the President of the Polish Republic, Ignacy
Mościcki. At the end of his diary he wrote the following: “I don’t think
that I have done something extraordinary that could not have been
done by somebody else. Certainly, every person, born even in the worst
conditions, can become beneficial to the surrounding community if only
they want to work on themselves and do not dispose of their deep moral
principles and belief in God that they inherited from their mothers, then
they may form the character and strong will, can find their true goal and
only then they become a real person”60.
Thus, Franciszek Magryś was a quiet but generally respected
inhabitant of the village who took part in the life of local community
60
Ibid., p. 122.
52
for many decades. Good relations with his neighbours allowed him
to influence the public opinion not only at official occasions and
appearances but he also never ignored any chance of agitation for every
important initiative. Magryś could explain, convince and speak as he was
a publicist and poet. He could also act: at once, if it was necessary but
he also gathered patience if the problem required the long and systematic
“shaping” of the people or waited for the right time. Magryś’s activity
was not limited to the village territory. He was well-known, respected and
had a lot of contacts in the magistrate district or even higher and many
times he influenced what was happening in nearby villages. He skilfully
mediated between the local and outside local level, owing to which he
successively concluded important and difficult matters.
Magryś did not act on his own. He had a lot of colleagues who
undoubtedly formed the Handzlówka elite: together they founded new
institutions, entered various committees and companies, and each of them
performed several functions in social, economic and cultural institutions.
The career of an activist was based in their case also on moving from
one form of activity to enterprises undertaken in other fields. A group of
young people who were trained by them and who were supposed to be the
local leaders in the future gathered around those activists. They were not
secluded within the borders of their home village or particular chauvinists
but many times they supported social initiatives in neighbouring towns
and helped realise the investment there. They could also act efficiently
after they moved to the new surroundings: “they emigrated from the
villages into Przemyśl’s surrounding territories to make their lives
better, and as I heard, in their new residence they also worked for social
benefit”61. Magryś and people related to him were mobile: they freely
moved between Cracow, Lvov and Przemyśl, bravely and without any
complexes they associated with people of various ranks (earls, politicians
and academicians). Organisations and institutions that came into existence
through their efforts further developed themselves independently and after
a few years they generated new organisations (the case of the farming
association of women).
The methods of operation by means of which the activists and ordinary
inhabitants of Handzlówka carried out the tasks they had to complete
connected a modern orientation in operating legal regulations with
rational economic calculation. They also used numerous acquaintances
and blood-ties, which were a source of information, advice and aid. At the
61
Ibid., p. 92.
53
same time, they referred to traditional forms of disinterested services for
the benefit of the community, for example letting a room in their house or
school to the priest for free or allowing the room to be used for a meeting
or for doing unpaid work, which significantly reduced the costs of the
carried out investments.
The arguments used by the peasants-activists when they wanted
to convince the people in their surroundings to carry out their intentions
were interesting: first of all they mentioned the necessity to improve
the culture in the village, criticised the poverty and social pathologies,
emphasising the progress in agriculture. All the time, stronger reasons,
that is the need to work on oneself, the moral improvement of an
individual, the principles of Christian faith and patriotic feelings were
presented in their texts. Undoubtedly, those matters were not only an
ornament for ordinary bustle but they also effectively stimulated everyday
work, providing it with pathos and some type of transcendent dimension.
Krakowski, the priest who was a newcomer from outside, had first
of all the background or complimentary role in all these. When he died,
life went on, and everything proceeded in the same way. When the new
parson came, he was immediately involved in all the things that had not
been completed by his predecessor and he continued running them, in the
way almost dictated by the local community.
Zaborów
The Małopolska village of Zaborów, which is located not far from
Brzesko, is an example of another mechanism of the development of social
entrepreneurship different from the cases discussed above. American
emigration concentrated in Chicago strongly influenced all local enterprises
especially after World War I. In 1937, when the Institute of Social Economy
(Instytut Gospodarstwa Społecznego) directed by Ludwik Krzywicki
started studies on emigration, there were about one hundred families from
Zaborów living across the ocean, not including newcomers from nearby
villages who were included in the parish of Zaborów.
Traditions of migration of this area were typical of Galicia and their
intensity was very strong, which is proven by the fact that Kazimiera
Zawistowicz-Adamska, who conducted a survey on the premises, did
not find a single farm from which at least one member was not staying
abroad62. From the 1880s a large number of people went to Prussia and
62
See: K. Zawistowicz-Adamska, Społeczność wiejska. Doświadczenia i rozważania
z badań terenowych w Zaborowie, Polish Institute of Social Services, Łódź 1948.
54
Denmark for seasonal work in the fields, and around the year 1890 people
from Zaborów discovered the USA and Canada. After they had returned,
the “Americans” became the elite of the village: they established farms of
a standard value, took part in social life, and occupied important functions
in the local environment. They also ran three shops in Zaborów63.
However, it should not be assumed that the area of Zaborów would
be a blank spot on the map of social activity without the American
experience. Just like in the whole Galicia from the end of 19th century in
the villages of the Zaborów parish there appeared benefit-and-loan purses,
farming associations, sections of fire brigades as well as groups of Peasant
School Associations and later amateur theatrical groups were formed.
The first performance was arranged in 1904 during the celebrations of the
January Uprising and before World War I several dozens of performances
were organised. Jedrzej Cierniak, the most distinguished graduate from
the local school and later a graduate of the Jagiellonian University, was
the spirit of the theatrical movement there.
From the beginning of the 20th century the Zaborów village was the
leader in the area if we consider the inhabitants’ activity (in 1905 the
fire brigade was founded, in 1912 Stefczyk’s purse was established and
then a water company that served several nearby villages). After World
War I a lot of organisations such as farming associations, Stefczyk’s
purses and voluntary fire brigades were revived, and in the 1926 Dairy
Cooperative Society and the Association of Rural Youth were founded,
a few schools and Community House with libraries and reading rooms
where rural activists started their activity were built.
What were the characteristics of Zaborów emigration that played
such an important role in the life of the home village? What influenced
the inhabitants staying across the ocean so much and what spheres of life
was, first of all, the aid from abroad mainly directed to?
Migrants from Zaborów did not scatter among the whole of peasant
emigration from Poland, but they organised themselves according to the
principle of regional origin quickly and permanently, while founding
numerous clubs, the main statutory task of which was to keep contact
with family villages and provide them with financial help64. As far as
making the decision to journey abroad could have been recognised as
a manifestation of individual entrepreneurship, the migrants’ ability
to organise themselves with regard to emigration certainly should be
63
64
Ibid., p. 177.
M. Gliwicówna, Drogi emigracji, “Przegląd Socjologiczny”, 1936, book 3–4, p. 55.
55
treated as the proof of the existence of social entrepreneurship, i.e.
one that even on foreign territory derives (successfully) the forms
of cooperation from traditional social capital and from the family
environment.
The vast majority of Zaborów residents who came to the United States
at the end of the 19th century settled in the area of the so-called Polish
Downtown in Chicago, creating a classical ethnic ghetto65. In this way,
thanks to the spacious concentration of emigrants from the same areas,
the “substitutes of family places” were created and then associations and
regional clubs were founded66.
The first organisations of Chicago emigrants from Małopolska
started to appear in 1915 and they were intended to help the villages that
suffered during the Russian offensive in Galicia. Even in March 1917
the Emergency Association of Pojawie and Zaborów was constituted.
At organisational meetings, fee dues amounted to 26.5 dollars. After
that, smaller and larger sums were sent to the country to support those in
need67. However, almost at the same time disagreements appeared because
the interests of both villages could not always be brought together.
As a result, clubs that concentrated on cooperation with one specific
village started to emerge.
From the initiative of emigration, in 1920 two brickyards appeared in
Zaborów, the income from which was meant for constructing church. Both
brickyards became independent of Chicago control very soon and started
to be controlled by the community board. They worked efficiently for many
years stimulating the construction movement in the whole neighbourhood
and providing employment to many people. In 1922 a project to build
the Community House started to be considered, in 1923 the “Chicago
Daily” was subscribed in order to be sent to the country for the members
of Peasant Youth Association that was founded in Zaborów a year before.
Polish diasporas financed the purchase of equipment for the fire brigade and
founded a scholarship fund for one of the students from a secondary school
in Zaborów. In spring 1939 a collection of funds for rearming the Polish
Army was announced. Earlier, in 1926, the idea of constructing Community
House had been revived. In 1929 the president of the Chicago Association
of Zaborów Village Citizens came to Poland and details of the investment
were agreed. “Zaborów inhabitants in Chicago declared that they would
cover the expenses for the purchase of the square and building materials,
65
66
67
See: R. Kantor, op. cit., p. 69.
See: Ibid., p. 67.
R. Kantor: op .cit., p. 80.
56
as well as manage the construction and do all the manual and horse
workmanship without payment”68. The investment cost the “Americans”
7,000 dollars (around 44,000 zlotys at that time).
The Community House was spacious and modern so the whole village
was proud of such a place. The “Americans” participated in successive
costs related to the furnishing of the library, the subscription of magazines
for the reading room, the purchase of a radio receiver, etc. Club delegations
came to Poland. After they had left, impressions were shared, reports were
made about the work’s progress and photographs were seen.
The contact between emigrants and family villages did not only
have a formal character, that is via Polish institutions, but also private
exchanges of letters with closer and farther family, visits to the country
and support for new emigrants from Zaborów and its neighbourhood
who came to Chicago were very popular69. Thus, self-organisation at
a distance referred to both individual and family activities that manifested
themselves in the forms of individual entrepreneurship. It used rural
social capital which demanded help that is provided collectively, for the
neighbours as well as “sponsoring”, to the best of their abilities, objects
that are important for the whole village (social entrepreneurship).
This co-existence, better yet – cooperation, was not free of arguments.
Zaborów villages used to send requests and thanks to Chicago but also
reports, and from there money, instructions for its use, and sometimes,
the words of criticism arrived. They came from the difference of
prospects and from the lack of knowledge of the reality of the countries.
The “Americans” held indolence against their countrymen, they accused
them of laziness or even dishonesty, and gradually because of becoming the
labourers themselves they stopped understanding the mechanisms of rural
life and the peasants’ mentality. Local activists accused the “Americans”
of the lack of orientation regarding the situation in the country,
underestimation of administrative limitations and lack of understanding
for the difficult economic situation of the people. The cause of friction,
apart from an obvious difference in prospects, also lied in the fact that the
clubs and associations preferred investments of a cultural, educational and
prestigious (church) character and not economic, or on at least a smaller
scale. And they could, only as such, create circumstances of independent
social development and increase the citizens’ engagement through the
development of agriculture and strengthening the position of peasants70.
68
69
70
Ibid., p. 127.
See: K. Zawistowicz-Adamska, op. cit., p. 91.
See: R. Kantor, op. cit., p. 126.
57
What lesson does the case of Zaborów teach us? First of all, this
village is a perfect confirmation of the thesis that it is possible for
a community to be integrated, in spite of a division into two parts
separated by a large spacious distance. Independently of that, the bonds
between the members of community (family and neighbours) are
maintained, and what is more, they undergo the extension of the feeling
of responsibility for the whole village and even the nation (although
not necessarily for a nearby village, because it has its own emigrants).
The traditional community can preserve its social capital and social
entrepreneurship generated by it both in decimated (by shorter and longer
departures of the inhabitants) Zaborów, and recreate and activate those
resources on the other side of ocean, in Chicago. Additionally this capital
is also sufficient (and it turns out to be fully productive and functional)
to join both parts with a network of intense (also extra-family) contacts
and relations and integrate them into one fully cooperative body. The dual
structure of Zaborów “in diasporas” does not lead to the dichotomised
division of roles into benefactors and benefactees; the latter at least try
to repay with souvenirs, and besides the help that is provided is still
perceived by both sides as a natural obligation that results from the fact of
the relationship or neighbourhood.
“Chicago” not always turns out to be the active party that stimulates
the activity; it often happens that two partners full of initiatives enter into
arguments. The dominating role of “Chicago” results from its financial
advantage and sometimes leads to imposing some of the concepts and
as a consequence to the overinvestment of the infrastructure of Zaborów
with buildings of a unilateral character. However, Zaborów would have
undoubtedly existed or even developed in spite of the lack of protection
of its “colony”, which shows the symptoms of the industrial mentality
(institutions seen as the most important factor of the transformation).
4. Hypotheses
The analyses that have been made and that at the beginning included
the manifestations of individual entrepreneurship (migrations for money
and extra-farming sources of income), and then social entrepreneurship
(formation of institutions on Polish lands, illustrated afterwards with the
studies of three cases: Lisków, Handzlówka and Zaborów), give authority
to formulate the hypothesis of the relationship between those two
phenomena and their relation towards the capital (human and social) of
the Polish countryside in the first half of the 20th century.
58
There are many reasons that allow to state that the human capital
that was liberated after the returning of property was realised in a very
dynamic individual entrepreneurship that proved to have large potential.
It was directed to the development of farms and respected the principles
of rural life that was defined as a form of resourcefulness that joined the
“game for adaptation” with the “game of authenticity”. Therefore, it was
an ethos activity and not the entrepreneurship in a narrow economic
meaning. However, the development of farms that took place thanks
to individual entrepreneurship encountered external barriers related to the
lack of institutional surroundings. In order to prevent this, it came to the
resources of human capital – community principles of mutual help and selforganisation – that while practised in a traditional form or skilfully modified
gradually filled the organisational emptiness. It was a very important feature
of pre-war social entrepreneurship of rural environments71.
Attributing a lot of importance not only to economic profits of the
undertaken initiatives but also to the value of altruist cooperation that
aimed at benefitting all the people and not only members who joined into
associations or cooperative societies was another characteristics of the
development of this type of entrepreneurship. At the same time, it was
emphasised that cooperation in this sphere unifies the representatives of
various strata (landowners, priests, intellectuals, or peasants), so it conduced
the appeasement of social antagonisms. The influence of such an institution
on the improvement of the level of education and moral standards of its
members and all the villages, that is the socialising function and the one that
strengthened human capital, was also accentuated. Finally, it was indicated
that work of this type is a patriotic obligation72.
We cannot ignore the knowledge of how skilfully and gradually the
leaders of that time got in touch with the environment. Sometimes many
years passed before it was agreed that the grounds were prepared and
a specified initiative started to bring results73.
It was also common that not one, but successively several institutions
of various profiles (not only financial or economic but also educational
and cultural) that complemented each other were started. All those
institutions did not limit themselves to a narrow specialisation but ran
versatile activity (for example farming associations organised both
professional courses, purchased fertilisers and seeds and invited speakers
who gave speeches on how to raise children, fight pathologies or on
71
72
73
See: S. Bojarska, op. cit., Vol. II – Galicia, p. 52.
Opisy gospodarowania..., op. cit., pp. 201–209.
See: S. Bojarska, op. cit., Vol. II – Galicia, p. 51.
59
the principles of co-existence in the family, in the village and in the
whole community). Of course, entertaining performances and patriotic
anniversary celebrations were an important element of their activity.
So how does the relationship between those two forms of
entrepreneurship and two types of capital present itself in the light
of the collected data? This relationship can be summarised in the
following way: individual entrepreneurship that derives profits from the
resources of human capital, even if it is very dynamic and effective, is
not a sufficient factor for the appearance of social entrepreneurship.
For its appearance the circumstances such as the existence of need
and aspirations of people who improve their workshops and aim at
improving their standard of life are necessary. In the first half of the
20th century they were family-run farms and their context was the rural
environment. Only then the need to initiate the actions in the sphere of
social entrepreneurship started to exist. Then the existing human capital
was reached, which was a better move than if they started from its
depreciation and the introduction of new patterns adopted from outside.
It turned out that traditional forms of cooperation and self-organisation
(the social capital of the community) were not doomed to be secluded in
the family, but could overcome the limitations of the local community
and go beyond the circle of parish loyalty or particular interests of the
community. Propaganda and rhetoric that referred to more important
targets, that is civic and patriotic attitudes, were very important here.
It seems that even nowadays the resources of human capital of the
Polish village are not completely ruined (although sociologists also
have their shameful shares in branding and fighting the mechanisms of
cooperation that were still functioning in rural communities after World
War II)74. Therefore, we can, or maybe we should, attain them also today
because of the risk that is associated with unavoidable transformation
of a part of Polish post-traditional peasants into modern agricultural
producers. As it was shown by Franciszek Tomczak, in the USA agro-business that created perfect institutional surroundings for an American
farmer also became the treadmill that badly limits real freedom, the
feeling of independence and that efficiently intercepts the majority of
values produced in agriculture. It even contributed to the elimination of
many small family farms that could not cope with the demands of not
only the free market (because in American circumstances we cannot
refer to such, at least with reference to agriculture), but the pressure of
74
D. Misiura, B. Gałęski, Wyzysk biedoty wiejskiej przez kułaków, Party School at
KC PZPR, Department of Economic Policy, Warsaw 1954.
60
conglomerates that are set to maximise the profit, even at the expense of
ruining the farmers. It seems that agro-business in the USA is an example
of “ordinary sponging on small farming producers by other groups:
supply industry, banks, transportation, trade and specialists and university
experts”75. Tomczak even asks the question of “why in such a rich country
like the USA and with so many sources of social opinion was it so easy
to include the farmers in the system of external business and market”76.
Having a fresh memory of the situation in the Polish village, we can
give here the following answer: American farmers allowed themselves
to be subordinated to the structures of agro-business because while
being such great individualists and managing such large areas (as for the
Polish conditions) they had never functioned in the social environment
of the village. In contrast to them, Polish peasants, rooted in the life of
community and presenting a collective mentality, already had, and have
again the chance to protect themselves from the sponging influence of
institutional surroundings that are created by external powers, while
creating them independently and on the grounds of preserved resources
of rural social capital. Only on such grounds, real social entrepreneurship
that forms its own structures and does not allow draining the farming
production by external structures, (implanted) in the rural environment
can be developed.
5. Towards a New Paradigm of Transformation
The return towards the idea of social entrepreneurship itself,
preceded by several years’ interest in the notion of social capital, marks
a fundamental change that has been taking place in the social sciences.
It seems that a new prospect that lies in making a historical reflection,
its concretisation (presenting ethnography – through re-awakening
of sensitivity to details) and location has started to appear in them.
The point is to pay special attention to particular vicissitudes and the
present specificity of both Poland77 and its particular regions, or even local
communities78. Those three regularities create a tendency in contemporary
75
F. Tomczak, Od rolnictwa do agrobiznesu. Transformacja gospodarki rolniczo-żywnościowej Stanów Zjednoczonych Ameryki Północnej, Warsaw School of Economics,
Warsaw 2004, p. 237.
76
Ibid., p. 135.
77
A. Sosnowska, Zrozumieć zacofanie. Spory historyków o Europę Wschodnią
(1947–1994), TRIO Publishing House, Warsaw 2004.
78
J. Bartkowski, op. cit.
61
sociology that we can firstly call an achievement of the pre-theoretical
state that is repeated, and this time realised deliberately (in situations
when powerful theories of modernisation turn out to be incompliant with
the Polish reality), and secondly, the achievement of a temporary state of
making it non-scientific (making it non-rational; meaning a temporary
resignation from an attempt to find a logical explanation for all
phenomena). It corresponds to Ernest Gellner’s79 or Józef Chałasiński’s
concepts who emphasised that in social phenomena “there is something
that we do not understand, that cannot be rationally or logically analysed
and that decides about basic irrational character of fundamental sources
of social life in general”80.
And finally, the state of sociology, which is postulated here rather
than described, should be defined with its repeated return to the
description, to social reality (in place of the study of the phenomena of
consciousness), while ignoring generalisations and reference to theories
of the highest rank for some time. Particular descriptions of small
fragments of reality (for example monographs) carry an important heurist
and theoretical value: they can not only verify generalisations but also
falsify them. Such things happen because the microscope (just like in
Anotnina Kłoskowska’s metaphor) and the telescope can show the same
but the microscope shows that thing more accurately81. Sometimes they
show something simply different, which is much more interesting. Should
sociology give up that chance and that challenge?
Considering the comments expressed incidentally towards the
discipline, let us try to briefly outline the sketch of the new paradigm of
transformation that appears here. Its formulation is authorised not only
by the images of the Polish village from the past mentioned above but
also by observations of what appears in a quite dispersed but characteristic
way in the works of outstanding contemporary western authors. Francis
Fukuyama’s remarks saying that institutions of democracy and the market
may not be suspended in normative emptiness but have to co-exist with
specific cultural values are the starting point here82.
79
See: E. Gellner, Pojęcie pokrewieństwa i inne szkice o metodzie i wyjaśnianiu
antropologicznym, Universitas, Cracow 1995.
80
J. Chałasiński, Antagonizm polsko-niemiecki w fabrycznej osadzie “Kopalnia”
na Górnym Śląsku. Studium socjologiczne, “Przegląd Socjologiczny”, 1935, vol. 3, p. 44.
81
A. Kłoskowska, Kultury narodowe u korzeni, PWN, Warsaw 1996.
82
See: F. Fukuyama, Trust. The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, Free
Press, New York 1995.
62
Let us try to draw conclusions from Fukuyama’s statements. Let us
assume that David Landes was right while proving, using the example of
England, that its economic success was the result of national awareness
that had been developed formerly in a full and intense way83. Let us also
assume that Michael Albert was also right. While assessing the chances of
communities that are placed against new challenges he attributes a lot of
importance to egalitarian convictions and solidarity that is built on them
and that characterises a more stable and socialised model of capitalism
from the areas around Ren, which is opposed to the Anglo-Saxon model
that is based on uncompromising competition84. Let us also consider right
Charles Hampden-Turner and Alfons Trompenaars who indicate that
countries that are structured collectively (Singapore), hierarchised (Japan),
centralised and with strong traditions of state control (e.g. France) report
the highest economic success85. Following this way of thinking we can
formulate the following statements:
– the paradigm of transformation, which is based on liberal
assumptions, should be replaced as soon as possible by the model that
derives its grounds from conservative thought;
– Polish society (and the inhabitants of the village and farmers
in particular) that was condemned for having an insufficient level
of acceptance for liberal attitudes and discredited the symptoms of
traditional mentality turns out to be predestined to economic and social
success, if Polish political and opinion-forming elites do not interrupt
this process with their intervention, based on false and fortunately oldfashioned rationales86.
83
See: D.S. Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, W.W. Norton, New York
1998.
84
M. Albert, Kapitalizm kontra kapitalizm, “Signum” Publishing House, Cracow
1994.
85
See: C. Hampden-Turner, A. Trompenaars, The Seven Cultures of Capitalism,
Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1993.
86
R. Kaczmarek, Zmierzch neoliberalnego optymizmu, “Odra” 2003, No 11; G.
Soros, The Crisis of the World Capitalism, MUZA SA, Warsaw 1999.
1
Lisków – A Model of Local Development?
1. Introduction
Lisków is a village located in the Wielkopolska Voivodeship,
around 35 kilometres away from Kalisz. Lisków currently serves as
the headquarters of the gmina (the local government administrative
level). Although the first official record of the village goes back to the
13th century, Lisków’s “fifteen minutes of fame” did not occur until the
early 20th century. That moment, in essence, lasted only until the outbreak
of the Second World War in 1939. The war and then post-war changes
interrupted that which had brought fame to Lisków: an unprecedented
process of development, which entirely changed the village and the
lives of its inhabitants. Within less than 30 years, this underdeveloped
and impoverished village – which had been stagnating in the Western
peripheries of territories annexed by Russia2 – turned into a dynamic
and prosperous community (especially considering education and the
economy). It came to represent success and became a model for other
Polish villages.
1
The article is an abridged English version of the paper published in Polish as:
T. Kaźmierczak, P. Sobiesiak, Lisków: model rozwoju lokalnego, in: T. Kaźmierczak
(ed.), Zmiana w społęczności lokalnej, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2007, pp. 73–
90. Research for this work included Paulina Sobiesiak’s Master’s Thesis entitled Lisków
– społeczność lokalna w działaniu, written under the direction of Jerzy Bartkowski, at the
Institute of Sociology of the University of Warsaw (Editors’ note).
2
At that time, Poland was annexed by Prussia, Russia, and Austria, and Lisków
itself was located at the edge of the territory annexed by Russia. Poland regained
independence in 1918, after WWI ended.
64
Today, no one remembers the history of Lisków3. The fact that it
has been forgotten results in part from the efforts of the communist
government (from 1945 to 1989), which essentially wiped the village off
the map of Poland for a number of years. Meanwhile Lisków – like other
examples of local development during the partitions and the inter-war
period in Poland – offers a valuable, cultural lesson. It serves as a model
of collective citizenship, existing in the name of a common good. In other
words, Lisków exemplifies a successfully integrated society organised
around common goals.
Today, many Polish villages and towns, which are uncared for
socially, economically, and culturally, stand a chance at development, just
like Lisków did at the beginning of the 20th century. For this reason, it is
worthwhile to return to the history of Lisków and study in detail what its
success was based on.
2. The Lisków Project – Expanding the Capacity
of the Local Community
Lisków’s “fifteen minutes of fame” began in 1900, when a new
priest came to town – Father Wacław Bliziński. He described the state of
Lisków then in the following way:
For every 100 shoddy huts, there was only one brick hut, with a straw
roof. The rest were made of wood, thatched roofs falling in, without
fences. And the hut in the worst state was the school with one classroom
that was supposed to serve the entire community. The road was uneven,
with many puddles, mud, and even when going to the cemetery, people
could hardly get their boots out of the mud [...] the impoverished and
abysmally organised economy of the church parish [...] the muddy earth
offered little crops [...]. The only saving grace people had was to migrate
to Prussia to find work4 [...] Lisków was already “famous”. If it was at
all possible, while travelling people would bypass it or they would sit in
the wagon so that they could see the front and the back, to make sure
no one stole a bundle on the way. And if something was missing in the
3
Our project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New
Lisków” refreshed people’s memories about “old” Lisków, but exclusively among those
who are involved in promoting the social economy and those whom we were able to reach
through our published books, brochures, documentary films and numerous performances.
4
This was facilitated by the fact that Prussia’s border was nearby. It was about 20
kilometres away from Lisków.
65
neighbourhood, people would say: “Well, we know a Liskovite must have
been around”5.
That was the starting point for the project, which Father Bliziński
began and during which the Lisków community was moved into action.
Although it is difficult to determine today whether the development
of Lisków was fully intended and planned by the priest or whether the
changes in Lisków starting in 1900 – at least to a certain extent and
from a certain time – were determined by the dynamics of development
itself and went beyond the expectations of the initiator. Even though
it is safer to assume that the second option is a better description of
events, it is important to emphasise the image of Father Bliziński that
emerges from his diaries: a man who is aware of his role and of the
potential of Lisków and who works consistently toward a specific goal.
That goal was to mobilise the people of Lisków through education and
to create conditions (e.g. economic ones) that would help in acquiring
and strengthening community-oriented attitudes and skills, such as
participation and cooperation.
Various thoughts and projects meandered through the priest’s mind.
He walked through the village, calculating, carrying things inside him.
Some thoughts were developing in his mind, which he shared quietly
with his closest friends [...] He conspired with two other people about
important matters, such as what the village needed most and what would
be most useful to the peasants6.
Regardless of the extent to which the Lisków project resulted from
“conscious social engineering” and from “endogenous forces”, it is worth
reconstructing the project for the purposes of this discussion.
Father Bliziński began the project by developing the level of education
of Lisków’s inhabitants. Between 1905 and 1907, seven informal primary
schools were opened in the village. These were illegal Polish schools that
taught history, the Polish language, mathematics, music, singing, and
religion. The priest also organised meetings with adults, where they read
“The Festive Newspaper” and “The Aurora”.
That was a crack through which the light seeped. It was the first voice,
which was to disrupt the sleepy calm of the peasant masses7.
5
W. Bliziński, Wspomnienia z mego życia i pracy, Kalisz Association of Friends of
Education, Kalisz 2003, p. 31.
6
W. Karczewski, Lisków – dzieje jednej wsi polskiej, published for the exhibit
entitled “Praca i Kultura Wsi w Liskowie”, Lisków 1937, p. 31.
7
Ibid., p. 31.
66
Thanks to this work, by 1914 the level of illiteracy among the locals
decreased from 87% (in 1900) to 27%. It is important to note that these
activities were organised despite the constant “attention” from the Czar’s
administrative officials. Furthermore, in spite of the repressive authorities
of the partition, Father Bliziński’s sentence to be excommunicated
to Siberia, and frequent arrests of the most active peasants, the most
important organisations in Lisków began their work between 1905
and 1914, that is until the outbreak of World War I (these organisations
especially flourished starting in 1905, as a result of the thaw that followed
Russia’s troubles in the war with Japan).
Alongside the educational work (which went hand in hand with Father
Bliziński’s promise to the locals that he wanted to “bring both heaven and
bread closer to them”), Father Bliziński also began promoting the idea
of cooperatives, which was completely unknown in the village, but the
locals were not interested in these efforts at the beginning. In January
1902 the first cooperative institution was founded in Lisków. It was called
the “Farmer’s Agricultural Trade Cooperative”, which according to Father
Bliziński’s diaries “was the mother of all institutions that followed”8.
A grocer’s shop was opened (which functioned illegally and in fact was
the seat of the underground opposition until 1908). Farming equipment
was sold. After several years, when the company had earned the trust
of the locals, it was expanded to include a bakery, associations of grain
producers, a brickyard, a steam windmill, and a construction company.
Thanks to the initiative of the company, the farmers of Lisków had the
opportunity to participate in courses organised by the Museum of Bees
and Gardens in Warsaw. In addition to this, the company “took on the
responsibility of sowing culture among the people. Thus, the company did
not limit its activity to the economic sphere [...], but rather functioned as
a kind of social club, where people met to talk and discuss various urgent
social issues facing that small village world”9.
In 1902 an organisation called “Mutual Security of Grain and Straw
in the Event of Fire” was founded in Lisków. According to the statutes of
this organisation, “only farmers known for their honesty will be accepted
into the association”. It was a self-help organisation, where in the case
of fire its members were obliged to give the victim a sum equal to his
deposit as well as gifts in kind, such as cereal or oats. However, in the
8
9
W. Bliziński, op. cit., p. 38.
Ibid., p. 39.
67
case of a year without a fire, the money was set aside for purchases, such
as “equipment for fighting fires.”
Throughout the following years, other organisations were founded in
Lisków: a Bank for Small Loans (1905, later it was called “Stefczyk’s
Bank”), weaving workshops (1904)10, an Agricultural Club (1906), public
baths, a launderette, toy workshops (1910), and a dairy cooperative
(1911). Thanks to the Agricultural Club, the peasants “learned about
agriculture”. They participated in courses that addressed various aspects
of agriculture (applying fertilisers, operating machinery, gardening, etc.).
The Lending and Savings Bank gave out loans on favourable terms for
tools such as sieves, etc., which among other things allowed the locals
to avoid “problems associated with borrowing from neighbours”11.
The prosperity of the dairy cooperative prompted the Central Agricultural
Society to organise permanent courses in dairy production in Lisków
(starting in 1926). Lisków became a unique, local centre of education.
A School of Agriculture was founded in 1913, and a middle school in
1915, which was turned into a Teachers’ Preparation School in 192112.
After Poland regained its independence in 1918, other educational centres
were founded, including the School of Arts and Industry (1921) and the
Women’s Professional School (1927). The pastor of Lisków’s parish
also organised social welfare and medical care systems from scratch.
He initiated a health centre and maternity care (1933). The public baths
and laundrette contributed to better hygiene in the village.
After the war between Poland and the Bolsheviks in 1920, Father
Bliziński established an orphanage for orphans who had come from the
East. A few hundred children found shelter at that orphanage, and thanks
to the Polish government and the American Red Cross a hospital and
dentist’s office were added to the orphanage. Additionally, canalisation
and electricity were brought to the village. Roads were built (including
a permanent connection to Kalisz), and most of the buildings in the village
were renovated (these buildings were already made of brick and had
roofs). In 1938 Lisków had its own electrical power plant, seven artesian
wells, twelve telephones, as well as fifty radio sets13. An Intelligentsia
Club, a Rifleman’s Association, the Red Cross, a choir, and an amateur
10
Lisków’s fabrics were sent to St. Petersburg, the Caucasus, Siberia, as well as
Poznań and Warsaw, among other places.
11
W. Bliziński, op. cit., p. 65.
12
In 1926 it was moved to Słupca in the Wielkopolska Voivodeship.
13
Rekordy wiejskie Liskowa, “Liskowianin” 1938, No. 4, pp. 11–12.
68
theatre all functioned in Lisków from 1926. There was also a local paper
entitled “Liskowianin” (“The Liskovite”), which first came out monthly and
later quarterly14.
Lisków activities were centred at the People’s Home, which was
built between 1906 and 1907. Weekly theatrical performances took place
there. A large, well-equipped gym was also located in the People’s Home.
It attracted many visitors. Father Bliziński wrote in his diary that a large
group of people from Częstochowa came to Lisków in 1910, and in 1912
there was a visit from Łowicz15.
Several years later – in 1925 – the first nationally-recognised exhibit
was organised in Lisków. It was entitled A Polish Village, and 41,000
people came to see it, including President Stanisław Wojciechowski,
Prime Minister Władysław Grabski and participants of the International
Agricultural Congress from England, France, and the United States.
A second exhibit entitled The Work and Culture of a Village took place in
1937. Its goal, among others, was “to summarise the role of cooperation
as a basic factor in the development of Lisków” and to inform visitors
about the then 35-year-old “Farmer’s Agricultural Trade Company”.
The President of Poland Ignacy Mościcki, as well as Prime Minister
Sławoj-Składkowski visited this exhibit16.
Lisków became Poland’s most famous village for cooperatives and
served as a model for other underdeveloped villages. Besides the above-mentioned visits, two documentary films played an important role in
making Lisków popular at that time. These films about Lisków were
created in the 1920s by the Film Institute of the Museum of Industry
and Agriculture in Warsaw. It also created postcards and slides entitled
Lisków – An Exemplary Village (edited in 1932). That phrase “Lisków
– An Exemplary Village” played an important educational role, as seen
in efforts to build “a second Lisków” in other parts of Poland: in Cienin
Kościelny in the Wielkopolska Voivodeship and in the town of Mońki in
the Podlaskie Voivodeship.
14
The newspaper “Liskowianin” is still published in Lisków today (there was a break
from 1939 to 1993). Currently, it comes out occasionally – once a year – because of a lack
in funding.
15
According to the calculations of G. Waliś (see: G. Waliś, Model pracy społecznej
i wzorowej wsi księdza Wacława Blizińskiego, “Roczniki Kaliskie” 2002, No. 28, pp. 59–
70), which were based on an analysis of local newspapers, around 7,000 people visited
Lisków between 1910 and 1939 (besides the mentioned exhibits) who were interested in
the phenomenon of economic development.
16
See: www.liskow.pl
69
The activities of Lisków also brought recognition to Father
Bliziński17. After Poland regained independence in 1918, Father Bliziński
was drawn into the whirlwind of politics. He was elected deputy of the
House (1918-1922), and from 1918 he was also the chief of the Office of
Social Welfare. During the war between Poland and the Bolsheviks, he
was a member of the Advisory Board for the Security of the Nation, and
in 1938 he became a senator, after being nominated by President Ignacy
Mościcki18. While he was away from Lisków, Father Bliziński continued
to support the interests of the village. In an unpublished performance,
given by one of the inhabitants of Lisków, on the occasion of the 50th
anniversary of the death of Father Bliziński, we read:
Friendships and acquaintances with the highest tier of national and
international dignitaries at that time [during Father Bliziński’s activity
on the national level], helped in acquiring funding, helped us avoid the
burdens of Polish bureaucracy, and facilitated the achievement of goals
that otherwise Liskovites could have only dreamed of19.
Thanks to the priest’s contacts, the Polish people in the USA, Canada,
and Australia financially supported Lisków’s investments, which calls
into question the conviction that Lisków developed only through the
community’s activities and without external financial support.
3. Characteristics of the Lisków Project
It seems that the key to understanding the essence of the phenomenon
of the Lisków project, from today’s perspective, is to consider the
personality and role of Father Bliziński.
The traditional interpretation is to perceive Lisków as an example
of the principle role that (strong) leadership has in activating the local
community and stimulating its development. For example, in the
opinion of Zbigniew T. Wierzbicki, expressed during an academic
discussion organised in 1993 in recognition of Lisków’s 700th birthday,
Father Bliziński exemplified a linking of two roles: institutional leader
17
It is necessary to add that the Church repeatedly accused Father Bliziński of
carrying out actions that did not maintain a balance between “heaven” and “bread”, of
becoming excessively involved in social work.
18
The priest was recognised for the entirety of his work, with the most important
state honours.
19
T. Trzciński, Prelekcje wygłoszone w kościele w Liskowie w 50-tą rocznicę śmierci
księdza Blizińskiego.
70
(as a pastor) and “civic” leader, the unquestioned, informal leader of
the Lisków community. It should be immediately noticed that when the
priest’s work was criticised, it was above all for the type of leadership
that he practiced. Therefore, critics at that time reproached him for failing
to motivate the peasants to engage in independent activities. In other
words, these critics argued that Lisków was one man’s success story and
that the priest’s work was “for the people” and not “with the people”20.
After two visits to Lisków in 1928 and 1937, one cooperative activist,
Władysław Cholewa, wrote that “the social level of the residents of this
famous village remained far behind the material gains. [...] Everything
there was organised centrally, while a strong individual stood at the top
– Father Bliziński”21. This argument is upheld by some current critics22.
Undoubtedly, the priest’s temper favoured these kinds of judgments.
Although he wrote that “one cannot have dictatorial inclinations in social
works”23, in daily life his behaviour often contradicted his words. Edward
Mąkosza – the son of Lisków’s organ player – wrote: “the Priest hated
objections, and at times he exploded with sharp words, which he later
regretted because they estranged people”24. To this day, people in Lisków
remember this kind of behaviour. For example, a contemporary inhabitant
of Lisków said that “to this day stories are passed on among the older
inhabitants, stories about how the Priest kept things in order, and how he
functioned as [...] an institution that was well-informed and active. [...]
He was very impulsive”25.
The question of how independent Lisków’s inhabitants actually
were is controversial. What is more, it will probably remain undecided
because nowadays it seems impossible to clarify. However, it is important
to remember that in the initial phases of the project (which were essential
20
See: W. Majdański, ks. Wacław Bliziński – proboszcz z Liskowa, “Słowo Powszechne” 1971, No. 4, p. 145; M. Biernacka, Oświata w rozwoju kulturowym wsi polskiej,
Ossoliński National Institute, Wrocław 1984, p. 47; R. Wojciechowski, Lisków – wieś
czy miasto, “Kurier Poranny” 1937, No. 83; S. Gajewski: Udział duchowieństwa w pracy
społecznej w Królestwie Polskim 1905–1918, Lublin Catholic University Publishers,
Lublin 1990, p. 164; W. Bzowski, Wieś polska i wieś czeska, Warsaw 1921, p. 16.
21
W. Cholewa, Moja walka o spółdzielczość wiejską, in: Wspomnienia działaczy
spółdzielczych, Warsaw 1963, pp. 247–248.
22
See the text of I. Bukraba-Rylska published is this volume.
23
W. Bliziński, Co trzeba czynić, aby wieś stała się wzorowa, “Zjednoczenie” 1938,
No. 41, p. 5.
24
E. Mąkosza, Lisków, a Xerox copy of a handwritten text, p. 34.
25
This quotation is from an interview with an inhabitant of Lisków. The interview
was carried out during on-site research.
71
to its success) the priest could not count on the local peasant community,
especially because of a very high level of illiteracy. That is also why he
made a particular effort to educate and bring up Lisków’s youth.
From the start I understood that one cannot build anything on the
shoulders of one person, and in the longer term it is forbidden. I also paid
attention to the youth, which – if I can say so – I raised myself26.
An example of such youth is Antoni Szewczyk (currently one of the
streets in Lisków is named after him). He was the son of a farmer and
was sent to agricultural school in Pszczeliny (paid by the priest). Antoni
Szewczyk later became one of the most active inhabitants of Lisków.
However, what seems to be still more essential in this context is
that Father Bliziński intentionally introduced two forms of collective
activity in Lisków: cooperatives and associations. Both were based on the
principles of member participation and democratic functioning. In other
words, they were ruled collectively. In effect, as Father Bliziński wrote:
“on the six-member Supervisory Board in each cooperative, there was
one priest, one citizen, and four peasants. And among the three members
of the Executive Board, there were usually exclusively peasants”27.
According to the priest, it was important to aim for involving the peasants
in governing the cooperatives.
It is worth noting that in his descriptions of his work in Lisków Father
Bliziński always provided the surnames of the people who were involved
in particular activities. Without a doubt, it is important to remember those
names when raising the issue of whether or not “Lisków was the work of
one person”. It seems that it was not. The question that naturally arises is
not if the inhabitants of Lisków participated and became involved in the
situation, but rather on what scale and in what way they were involved.
It is important to remember that the potential for participation and
involvement in a Polish village was (and unfortunately probably still
is) limited. Economic historians and sociologists point to the legacy of
relations in serfdom and the framing culture that was present for centuries28.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the Polish village was still an isolated,
autarchic community. As a result of this, notions of change and progress
were foreign to Lisków. Father Bliziński’s strong character and distaste for
objections was possibly essential to breaking through the over-sensitivity
26
W. Bliziński, Co trzeba czynić..., op. cit., p. 41.
Ibid., p. 41.
28
J.T. Hryniewicz, Polityczny i kulturowy kontekst rozwoju gospodarczego, Scholar
Educational Publishing, Warsaw 2004.
27
72
and self-conscious attitudes of the peasants and to sustaining the freshly
evoked activity, which was void of fundamental traditions. His character
was thus also his personal attribute – it helped him handle criticism and
also realise goals. This is upheld by examples found in Wspomnienia
(Memoirs). One of them pertained to the construction of a new vicarage in
Lisków. When the parishioners did not want to finance this undertaking,
Father Bliziński stopped giving mass. At times he expelled representatives
of the town’s inhabitants, when they came to persuade him against a given
decision. In the end, the vicarage was built29.
Thus, if Father Bliziński was the strong leader type, then he used
his influence to increase the number of leaders in Lisków. In this way,
he developed what is currently called the model of collective leadership.
In this case, leadership is understood to be more of a process than
a position. Important decisions are not imposed from above, but rather
they are made collectively, on a horizontal level. There is no “chief”, but
there are coordinators. Thus, it seems that in the case of Lisków both
models – traditional leadership and collective leadership – coexisted.
The latter model developed out of the initiative of the first. What is most
interesting is the fact that the two mutually strengthen one another. When
Father Bliziński came to Lisków, he was not its leader. In fact, at first he
was rejected by the people of Lisków. A group of parishioners confronted
the bishop, demanding that “this good-for-nothing from Warsaw” be
removed from his post. A few years of effective work completely changed
his position. In 1907, the following event occurred:
one morning, there was a great commotion in the village: they
are going to take away the pastor. [...] there was a rumbling even in
neighboring villages – we will not permit that! [...] his faithful supporters
kept vigil. Even some women kept vigil, and they were the same women
who, earlier, had not wanted to send their children to nursery school,
the same women who had even threatened the priest for “keeping”
their husbands for chit-chat. Meanwhile, among the male peasants, the
priest had faithful supporters who a few years earlier had not wanted
to go to devotionals30.
From that time, Father Bliziński became the unquestioned chief,
the leader of the community. The threat of losing the pastor had made
the inhabitants realise how important the “eccentric” priest had become
29
W. Bliziński, Wspomnienia..., pp. 31–32.
Ibid., p. 49. At that time Father Bliziński left Lisków for a few weeks; he managed
to flee from the Russian military police.
30
73
to them. The behaviour of the village’s inhabitants – who had even tried
to carry out a judgment of the military policy – supports the notion that
already by that point the priest was considered to be a member of the
Lisków community, i.e. someone who “belongs” and who is “ours and
we won’t give him up”. Father Bliziński’s authority increased alongside
the undertakings, which he initiated and which drew Lisków’s inhabitants
into collective action. Among these engaged inhabitants were members of
newly founded cooperatives, mutual insurance societies, and associations.
As much as Father Bliziński was indispensable in the first phase of
the project (as he wrote: “Work must be founded on the personal sacrifice
and great moral authority of the leader, which motivates the rest by the
example that it sets”31), with time collective leadership became increasingly
important. It is possible that the moment when the inhabitants of the
village had to “take things into their own hands” occurred when the priest
left Lisków, after Poland regained independence in 1918. Of course, he
continued to work actively for the good of the village and he promoted
Lisków nationally and internationally. Nevertheless, considering the priest’s
frequent absence from Lisków, the inhabitants had to supervise and direct
the undertakings that Father Bliziński had initiated. Perhaps that was when
the collective identity of the inhabitants was forming most intensively, and
they defined themselves as members of an active community, capable of
taking the initiative and “taking fate into their own hands”.
Undoubtedly, that was also Father Bliziński’s intention. He wanted
Lisków to function thanks to “the peasants, who were conscious,
convinced of the soundness of their ideas, prepared for [...] the possibility
of temporary defeat, failure and able to begin again”32. That is also
why he cared for the education and upbringing of the local group of
administrators and teachers. In the last section of his memoirs entitled
Na marginesie mej spowiedzi (An Aside to my Confession), Father
Bliziński emphasised that his goal in his work in Lisków was not only
to build a material infrastructure, but rather more importantly, to also
build a spiritual infrastructure:
I imagine a model village would be a collective that had gained
insight from Christian virtue, that had become a great family, bound
together with affection and interests in the rest of the country33.
31
A quotation from one of our interviewees who owned Father Bliziński’s
handwritten texts.
32
W. Bliziński, Wspomnienia..., op. cit., p. 169.
33
Ibid., p. 169.
74
In contemporary language we would say that the priest essentially
wanted Lisków to be a community that was integrated through a common
set of values, open to the world, and linked to other communities
by a concern for similar issues and interests. His position as a priest was
undoubtedly helpful to Father Bliziński in the process of realising his
vision. A priest, especially in rural villages, had great authority and could
simultaneously use his professional position to develop close ties with the
inhabitants. Being a clergyman also allowed him to be a teacher, a parent,
and an initiator. Yet this was not enough to elicit the mobilisation that in
fact occurred. Therefore, what was Father Bliziński’s strategy? What was
his method for mobilising the inhabitants in the Lisków project?
First, Father Bliziński created links between Lisków’s inhabitants
by building networks and later more complex organisations: cooperatives,
associations, and mutual support groups. He began by organising a parish
orchestra and choir. He himself wrote:
The parishioners were impressed when at midnight mass on Christmas
Eve the parish choir performed ceremoniously with the orchestra, which
played the trumpets. They liked it very much because nothing of that sort
existed anywhere else, not even in distant towns. [...] More people became
interested in participating in the choir and orchestra. I chose the elderly
in particular because they immediately took the opportunity to create an
underground circle, and during practice sessions – when I would attend
them – people talked about everything and became more conscious.
Shortly afterward, educational clubs and prayer groups emerged,
and even later a parish club and the Women of Landowning Families
Club appeared. The priest proposed the first economic initiative two
years after arriving in Lisków, when a network of various clubs was
established:
Finally on January 13, 1902 – having gathered 35 members
– we opened a store (for now in a room that has been designated for
singing, in the vicarage), and we set up an association, with the goals
of [...] 1. mutual support for the development of agricultural business,
2. providing members of the company and parishioners in general with
quality goods at the lowest possible price [...] The name of the company
was the “Farmer’s Agricultural Trade Cooperative”.
Second, Father Bliziński worked to address the real needs of the
Lisków population and to show them how they could realise their
interests. To fully evaluate the community’s situation, it took the priest
about two years to gather information and make a diagnosis. During those
two years, he wrote:
75
I became familiar with the village and with its people, with their needs
[...] I myself did not know about farming, livestock [...] I did not know
how to tell the difference between [...] rye and wheat, potatoes and beets,
etc. [...] So I started studying farming books. I asked many questions [...]
to gather information about farming, and I did this very carefully, in order
not to call into question my authority as a pastor34.
Father Bliziński simultaneously propagated the notion that all
activities should be based on cooperative principles as well as on Catholic
social teaching. The cooperative movement should be completely self-reliant, self-governing, and independent. It should link the spiritual,
farming and educational-cultural elements of life in the village. Thus, the
community should be based on three pillars: the Church, education, and
cooperation among all of the inhabitants:
The centre of a model cooperative village should be based on the
following: the Church with active and community-oriented priests
(offering moral regeneration), the People’s Home as the centre of cultural
life, and schools offering the highest level of education and a Christian
upbringing35.
The first and undoubtedly most important institution in terms of the
success of the Lisków project was the “Farmer’s” Cooperative (founded
in 1902). Thanks to this cooperative, the priest gained greater trust: the
people recognised the potential for financial benefits in this initiative and
personally experienced “that it was worth it”. The lesson they learned was
clear: in protecting one’s personal interests it is worth joining communal
efforts. Achieving this state was not easy. Father Bliziński described the
first years of activity of the “Farmer’s” Cooperative in the following way:
Not all of the members [of the cooperative] were concerned with the
idea of community. This concept was in fact rather foreign in the village.
Just twelve members expressed a real commitment and understanding.
The rest – well, since the pastor pressed them – could not refuse, but you
could tell by their eyes that they were not devoted: here, Father, take these
ten rubles and I won’t look at them anymore36.
It was not until the company achieved financial success, alongside
simultaneous educational efforts, that the resistance of Lisków’s
inhabitants to the newly introduced initiatives was broken down.
Third, Father Bliziński worked to find an initiative that would not only
be successful but would also stimulate other efforts (it is hard to say how
34
35
36
Ibid., p. 35.
Ibid., p. 170.
Ibid., p. 36.
76
consciously the priest did this). As it has been stated earlier, he started
with the “Farmer’s” Cooperative. Today it would be considered a classic
example of a social enterprise. This was a good choice. Not only was it
profitable, but it also inspired other initiatives. The cooperative created
essential conditions for the creation of a society based on citizenship in
Lisków, a society based on authentic social dialogue: “instead of secretive
gatherings, it was possible to gather in the evenings and discuss various
issues and problems”37.
It was precisely during those conversations that new ideas were
born, and by leading the cooperative the inhabitants were simultaneously
learning how to realise visions responsibly. Nonetheless, Father
Bliziński continued to oversee these activities. He involved new people
in the initiatives that were being realised, and he monitored everything
that was going on in the village. The social dialogue which grew out
of the “Farmer’s” Cooperative in the end led to many new initiatives
and enterprises. They appeared in all spheres of social life in Lisków:
economic, educational, cultural, care services, health and hygiene,
transportation, and citizenship.
Fourthly, Father Bliziński worked on engaging the entire community
in the activities. Today we would say that he was guided by the concept
of social cohesion. In the context of Lisków, this meant also including
women in social works. Father Bliziński noticed the need for their
participation, for example in the establishment of the dairy cooperative
in 1905. When he called for a meeting with the peasants, after two or
three meetings they stopped attending, and the situation changed only
after he invited women. Not only did they “not intrude, but [...] they often
ordered their husbands to go to the meetings, to become members of the
cooperatives”38. Granting Lisków’s women with access to these activities
also initiated the Women of Landowning Families Club, and later the
Estate Men’s Wives Club, and finally the famous Club of Rural Hostesses,
which became the most important women’s organisation in Lisków during
the pre-war era.
During the realisation of the Lisków project, other organisations were
initiated. Each one carried its own value because it fulfilled a particular
need of Lisków’s inhabitants, but they were also valuable as a whole:
thanks to these activities, the quality of life increased, and the village
developed. However, it is important to remember that above all, these
37
38
Ibid., p. 37.
G. Waliś, op. cit., p. 62.
77
initiatives taught partnership and cooperation. They supported the notion
that a communal approach to activities was more effective than projects
realised individually. Thus, in less than 30 years, Lisków succeeded in
realising an extraordinary and unique, institutional development project,
which modernised Lisków and shaped the social skills of the inhabitants.
What was Father Bliziński’s role in the Lisków project? Without
a doubt, he was the initiator and the mobiliser. Without him, Lisków
would probably still be drowning in mud. However, before the process
of development could begin, someone or something had to bring an idea
to Lisków because it seems that the community capacity was too weak
for development to begin internally. Thus, through his knowledge and
contacts, Father Bliziński brought development to Lisków. It should be
recognised that this was common for Polish villages between the 19th and
20th centuries. As Kazimierz Badziak writes:
the prerequisite was [...] bringing individuals who had broad support
and were leaders in cultural and social work to the frontlines [...] For
any change to be implemented in the village it had to be founded on
other essential changes in the structure of the community [...] That is why
individual actions, during the initial phases of development, could come
from the outside. They were most frequently started by a priest, a village
teacher, a repatriate, a local government official, and sometimes also
by a landowner or a tenant39.
Thus, the priest opened a community that had been isolated
economically, culturally (illiteracy), and politically (on the border of the
Russian partition) from the world. He became a link, through which the
Lisków community – which had been “forgotten by God and people” –
gained access to resources that it had not owned and possibly did not even
know about before. Thanks to the priest’s ideas, technology, information,
knowledge, and material resources (including money), experience, and
skills came to Lisków. Father Bliziński brought this to Lisków by his
own person, embracing the rectory and caring for the needs of the village
the whole time. In later periods, these resources became the bridges that
linked Lisków with the rest of the world. These resources also began
flowing out of Lisków: besides the routine exchange of goods, Lisków’s
unique experience became its resource and the source of its pride, which
Lisków’s inhabitants shared with others.
39
K. Badziak, Wieś wzorowa (spółdzielcza) na ziemiach polskich i jej oddziaływanie,
in: W. Caban, M. Markowski (eds.), Wieś a dwór na ziemiach polskich w XIX i XX wieku,
Kielce School of Pedagogy Publishers, Kielce 1999, p. 133.
78
By his own doing, Father Bliziński developed cooperative relations
in Lisków. He encouraged the inhabitants to work together and created
the appropriate institutional infrastructure to support cooperation. Thanks
to this organised cooperation, Lisków’s institutional and community
capacity increased. It seems that the Lisków community was ultimately
prepared to continue with development based on its own strength and
internal networks.
In the light of the above discussion, we can understand the role of
the priest and the essence of the Lisków project in terms of the theory
of social capital and its significance for development. In short: Father
Wacław Bliziński’s success in Lisków and what he gave to the community
was an increasing level of social capital (both bonding and bridging).
4. Conclusions
If we consider the historical example of Lisków to be a prototype
of the Polish model of local development, then we can define the
prototype in the following way: in underdeveloped communities, local
development is linked to increasing social capital. Development results
from a combination of linked and mutually influential processes of
development, including: economic, cultural-educational, and social.
Development takes place when cooperative relations are established
among community members. These cooperative relations must take on an
organised form, relevant to the existing collaborative activities, and shape
a particular model of collective leadership. The social economy is a tool
for local development.
“Dolina Strugu” (“Strug Valley”)
– A Partnership Laboratory1
“Dolina Strugu” has been developed as an effect of cooperation of
local governments of four Rzeszów district, Podkarpacki region communes
– Błażowa, Chmielnik, Hyżne and Tyczyn. Historically, this area is named
the Galicia.
The initiative was started in 1991 by the establishment of the
technologically ultra-modern “Okręgowa Spółdzielnia Telefoniczna”
(District Telephone Cooperative, OST), one of the first independent
telecommunications operators. It was described as “Światłowodem przez
pole” (Optical fibres in the field)2, which gives an idea of the incredible
impetus of the project. The first successful initiative paved the way for the
others3. It triggered the business development pace. Successive economic,
social, and educational initiatives emerged, such as:
• Towarzystwo Rolno-Przemysłowe “Dolina Strugu” (“Strug
Valley” Agro-Industrial Association) with its headquarters in
Błażowa, Towarzystwo Przeciwdziałania Uzależnieniom “Trzeźwa
Gmina” (The Association for Counteracting Addictions – “Sober
Commune”) in Chmielnik;
1
This article is an abridged English version of the paper published in Polish as:
A. Dobrowolska, J. Leszczyńska, Dolina strugu – w laboratorium współpracy
partnerskiej, in: T. Kaźmierczak, K. Hernik (eds.), Społeczność lokalna w działaniu.
Kapitał społeczny. Potencjał społeczny. Lokalne governance, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2008, pp. 113–146 (Editors’ note).
2
A. Gontarz, Wizjonerzy i pragmatycy, “Computerworld”, May 17, 2004.
3
See: S. Bratkowski, Społeczeństwo nieobojętnych. Tak blisko, tak daleko, “Znak”
No. 565, June 2002.
80
•
A social company producing and distributing water “ChmielnikZdrój”, JSC;
• Non-public schools: a junior high school, a high school and
a music school (in Chmielnik) as well as Wyższa Szkoła Społeczno-Gospodarcza (Social-Economic College) in Tyczyn;
• Utility partnership – a joint waste disposal venture that has been linking
four communes of the “Valley” with Dynów for a couple of years.
Formally, “Strug Valley” began to function as a microregion in
1994, along with the establishment of the Agro-Industrial Association,
comprising the four above-mentioned communes with a total area of 300
km2 and approximately 38,000 citizens. The microregion is rural with
two thirds of its employed population working at individual farms, and an
average farm area covering only 3.5 ha. It is worth noting that Podkarpacie
is one of the poorest regions of Poland, and the unemployment rate has
been very high throughout the years.
The institutional output of “Strug Valley” is an impressive work which
started long ago on a traditional stubble-field. Let us briefly describe the
most significant projects:
District Telephone Cooperative (OST)
The first joint initiative covering the actions of the
Valley’s four communes. It was established in 1991
thanks to the help of Polish and American experts
sharing their know-how, the commitment of communes,
loans for the telephone exchange purchase, as well as the commitment
of individuals who, as cooperators, had financed and supervised the
building of the infrastructure network. In Chmielnik, these people
even guaranteed commune loans with mortgages on their own houses.
The establishment of the cooperative was a practical solution to the
problem of telecommunications underdevelopment and an expression of
disagreement with anticompetitive actions taken by the Polska Poczta
Telegraf i Telefon company (Polish Post Telegraph and Telephone)
– as it was then called – which was forcing complimentary transfers
of networks, socially built by Telephone Committees, in exchange for
service access.
The OST was constructed, from the start, with the use of ultramodern technology solutions (e. g. it possessed the first optical network
in southern Poland). The number of phone subscribers reached 9,500 by
“Dolina Strugu” (“Strug Valley”) – A Partnership Laboratory
81
the end of 2003 with the number of Internet subscribers reaching about
3,0004.
Agro-Industrial Society “Strug Valley” Regional
Association
It was established in 1994 to continue the intercommune cooperation; it started with phone installations
and aimed at solving the problems of public utility
infrastructure, environmental policy, development of agricultural
production and services, working out and implementing a common
development strategy as well as the promotion of the then created “Strug
Valley” microregion.
The association implements numerous social programmes by raising and
then making use of a variety of financial means. The programme is oriented
towards farmers, countryside women, the youth, and the unemployed. The
projects are aimed at activating and encouraging entrepreneurship, as well as
exchanging experiences in stimulating business activity in rural areas. They
include activities such as professional training programmes, expert help in
establishing a business, and grants for individuals starting such activities.
Since 2005 the Leader+ programme has been carried out with the help of local
government members. A new development strategy has been elaborated with
the Local Action Group responsible for its implementation. The association
cooperates actively with local governments and Ukrainian associations.
“Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC
It was established in 1995 by the Chmielnik commune
and a private entrepreneur5. It entered the market in
1997. Its offer includes: the mineral water “Alfred”,
extracted in Chmielnik; fruit juices, carbonated beverages,
and vegetables, fruits, honey; and locally produced bread from the
microregion. “Chmielnik Zdrój” uses a direct sales model, i.e. it delivers
its goods directly to the customers’ houses. It serves more than 50,000
customers in Podkarpacie and Małopolska regions6.
4
Data source: Local development plan, OST – Dolina Strugu – Boży Ład, 2003,
“Computerworld” conference materials – “Forum for broadband services: Knowledge
– technology – entertainment”.
5
The “Sober Commune” association and OST became later shareholders.
6
Data source: M. Garbacz M., Can our valleys change?, Gazeta Stowarzyszenia
Rodzin Katolickich Koła Parafialnego w Lutczy, N. 80 and 81, June 2004; information
provided by the Company.
82
The company spends 10% of its income on charities through Caritas.
It also cooperates closely with the Association for Counteracting Addictions
“Sober Commune” by hiring recovering addicts. It supports the execution
of the “Sami Sobie” (“Helping Ourselves”) programme, aimed at creating
non-agriculture jobs and increasing the microregion’s competitiveness,
using local raw materials and traditional farming products. In 2005, the
company was awarded the “Dobroczyńca Roku” (Benefactor of the Year)
prize, granted by the Philanthropy Development Academy.
The Anti-Addiction Association “Trzeźwa Gmina” (Sober Commune)
The association has been operating since 1997. It implements
comprehensive addiction prevention actions and fights social exclusion.
It organises work training programmes for the unemployed, conducts
psychological advisory actions for people at high risk of alcoholism, and the
Solidary Action programme focuses on social and professional integration
of the disabled. The association’s activities are focused on the integration
of groups vulnerable to pathology and social exclusion, promoting active
leisure time among children and youth. The association cooperates closely
with “Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC executing the programme of comprehensive
therapy for alcohol dependence. It is also the founder and manager of nonpublic schools – a social junior high school, a “Strug Valley” high school,
and a first stage music school in Chmielnik.
Wyższa Szkoła Społeczno-Gospodarcza
(Social-Economic College)
The first college established in a small
town-countryside area in Poland. It was created in 1996 in Tyczyn
(population of 3,000) and run by the company Scientia, Ltd., a Tyczyn
commune public-private partnership with private shareholders. Sociology
is the main major. Every year, the college educates more than 1,000
students out of whom 10% come from the “Valley” communes. The college
has contacts with foreign universities, particularly from Ukraine. During
our analysis there were some pending decisions in regard to the possible
merger with the Rzeszów School of Informatics and Management.
To understand “Strug Valley” as a collective action phenomenon, we
need to go back to its roots, to the traditional understanding of authority
shaped by the Galician model, to leadership and responsibility for a local
community. This article is an analytical study of the results of research
conducted in May 2007, consisting of 29 individual in-depth interviews
83
with people well-known in “Strug Valley”7. Accessible data was analysed
as well: studies on the history of Podkarpacie region, press publications,
UN reports on information technology in “Strug Valley”, legal documents,
schedule documentation, financial reports of the described initiatives and
the content of related websites.
1. Galician Roots of the “Valley”
Three factors shaped by the history and the Galician tradition were
crucial to specifying the goals, activity, and cooperation within the “Strug
Valley” initiative:
• Collectivity;
• Self-help cooperation;
• Using political means for self-help.
The Community
The Galician collectivity was manifested in long-lasting, strong local
and family bonds8 . It was built on two pillars: a traditional religiousness
related to a cultural activity (e.g. national holidays combined with religious
traditions) and the struggle against common problems.
Due to the lack of industry and the low level of urbanisation, being
shut off from the markets of the neigh bouring regions mountains all
around the area, the overpopulation of villages (estimated over 1 million
people in 1918) and substantial fragmentation of farms unable to earn
their living – Galicia was a land of economic underdevelopment and
poverty.
The broad autonomy9 and relatively early privatisation, already in 1848,
were not very helpful. Admittedly, the peasants acquired small farms but
the forests and pastures were still owned by the landed gentry. Therefore,
7
The interviews were anonymous, and the respondents’ quotations are given in
italics – by local government officials involved in the “Valley” initiative.
8
J. Krawczyk, T. Bohun, Galicyjskość to szacunek dla własnych korzeni, “Mówią
Wieki”, No. 558, June 2006.
9
Polish Galicia formed part of the Habsburg Empire (named Austro-Hungarian
Empire after the Spring of Nations of 1848) throughout the 19th century, as a consequence
of Poland’s partition by three neighboring powers, Russia, Prussia and Austria, at the end
of the 18th century. The Habsburgs, unlike the other two invaders, led the politics of giving
relative autonomy to the region inhabited by different nations of the Empire (Editors’
footnote).
84
the peasants, in order to survive, had to continue working at the rich men’s
manors.
The 19th-century emigration came about as one of the solutions to
poverty. It is estimated that during the last decade of that century 300,000
people left to earn money and make a better future. Common poverty, the
fact of being left by themselves, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
Polish landed gentry not being interested in the farmers’ lot – it all gave a
very serious impetus to developing methods of self-help.
Self-help Cooperation
To put it simply, you could say that the relations between Galician
peasants and the Polish landed gentry were marked by mutual hostility.
The landed gentry were treated with much more hostility than the Austrian
invaders themselves. It was partly due to the fact that Polish landlords
occupied prominent positions in the imperial administration, and therefore
they were identified with the invader: “The peasant could have lived his
whole life without seeing an Austrian official other than his own landlord”10.
Thus, the Polish peasants suffered from the conqueror’s repressive
measures rather indirectly. And their hostility turned mainly towards the
landed gentry. In the 19th century, it took more and more severe forms
(with its culmination in 1846). To peasant communities, this situation, and
the manor indifference in particular, accounted for the need to develop
self-help tools and mechanisms.
Galicia was a land of strong, firm self-governance traditions. (Some
institutions, such as public courts11, were functioning from the Middle
Ages until the 19th century. At the end of the 19th century, this territory
was characterised by efficient commune governments similar to manor
governments). Moreover, these were the representative self-governance
traditions12. They are of particular importance, as they account for
developing the habit to a certain role arrangement of local leaders in the
local community representative institutions.
It appears that the specificity of the Galician model – observed also in
“Strug Valley” – is about understanding self-governance as the responsibility
10
J. Krawczyk, T. Bohun, op. cit.
i.e. courts obliged to disclose recognised offences at public meetings for all adult
village citizens (called the rug). The testimonies were a legal basis for criminal court
procedures.
12
See: J. Bartkowski, Tradycja i polityka. Wpływ tradycji kulturowych polskich
regionów na współczesne zachowania społeczne i polityczne, “Żak”, Warsaw 2003.
11
85
for a local community. The leaders are the members of the community who
look after its business. To mention a Galician example, we can talk about
attempts to appear in courts against the gentry. The elite were a group of
committed individuals, competent in local community matters, who saw
their role in terms of a mission. Let us add that the leaders’ activity was
often based on religious motives – commitment in community issues was
an expression of respect for spiritual and moral order13. A number of actions
were taken by local priests, poor gentry or wealthy peasants. Educated in
towns, sometimes even abroad, they were coming back to their villages to
take on the fundamental work among their people. In effect, in the region of
great poverty, a high mortality rate, illiteracy and alcoholism in the second
half of the 19th century, actions for education and raising living standards
were initiated. Agrarian clubs, allowance associations, workshops and
small companies were called into being.
Newspapers written in a simple language and in a large font were
distributed informing people about current events. Pro-sobriety actions
were taken.
One of the initiatives, continued until this day, is the work of the
mayor’s son born in the Podkarpacie town of Pruchnik – Father Bronisław
Markiewicz, the founder of the Michalici Order. Apart from the priest
work, he was engaged in extensive activities for his local community.
He built orphanages, juvenile centres, foster homes, and professional
schools for the poor youth. He educated and encouraged young peasants
to a greater thrift. In 1898, he established the “Powściągliwość i Praca”
(Restraint and Work) association promoting the ideals of sobriety,
patriotism, education of the unprivileged, and counteracting poverty14.
A popular magazine, under the same title, started to be published in order
to raise important current socio-political issues.
Another example of a Galician activity was rural savings cooperatives,
established by Franciszek Stefczyk, a teacher from Czernichów (a village
near Cracow). Savings banks for farmers were supposed to become an
alternative to usury. Their task was to accumulate members’ savings and
then grant them inexpensive, long-term loans preventing the necessity of
cattle and swine sales in the years of crop failure. The work of Stefczyk is
a clear example of thinking in terms of self-help, using strong local bonds.
13
This aspect has been raised by the most committed animators of the “Strug
Valley”.
14
“Restraint and Work” was the main thought of Markiewicz’s whole educational
programme.
86
The Stefczyk credit institutions were generally liked and accepted, and
they did their best to help the rural community become stronger15. It is also
worth noting that the inspiration for this concept was drawn from German
solutions, i.e. Raiffeisen credit unions, observed by Stefczyk during his
studies in Vienna. Bringing up the works of Markiewicz and Stefczyk is
deliberate, as we can find the same attitudes and modes of action in today’s
“Valley”.
The Galician self-governance is at times perceived as a “method
of elite appointment” rather than as a manifestation of “real social
participation”16. It results from the fact that in this model the management
of common issues was entrusted to appointed local activists, constituting
a local government. In this sense, we can talk of a certain consent, or even
trust of the community towards its representatives and their initiatives.
As a result, there was no more need for broader participation. To sum
it all up, the Galician model of a local community action is an effect of
social consensus founded on the activity of enlightened elites and social
consent.
Politics and Self-help
The rural population, in spite of its apparent freedom, was deprived
of any political rights. The Austro-Hungarian parliament was dominated
by conservative circles, opting for the former status quo, and until 1907
peasants were simply not represented.
The changes began at the end of the 19th century along with the
emergence of the peasant movement, the foundation of the Stronnictwo
Chrześcijańsko-Ludowe (Christian Peasant Party), aimed at representing
the peasants’ interests17. It is worth mentioning that one of its principal
founders: coming from a gentry family in a village near Lwov, Father
Stojałowski, just like Father Markiewicz, was engaged in extensive work in
favour of enlightenment and the political activation of peasants. He would
buy out peasant magazines and have them published – “Pszczółka” (bee)
and “Wieniec” (wreath). He would organise pilgrimages, demonstrations,
and establish peasant rural circles and electoral committees. He would
participate in electoral campaigns in support of peasant candidates to
15
16
J. Bartkowski, op. cit.
Ibid.
17
As early as in 1907, the peasant party won more than half of the seats in
the Austro-Hungarian Parliament.
87
the Sejm Krajowy (National Parliament). In other words, he was a true
leader.
It is worth emphasising that the peasants’ movement was born as an
instrument of a supra-local way of coping with poverty and harsh living
conditions. Therefore, the political involvement was defined as one of the
instruments of work in favour of the community.
People’s Republic of Poland (PRL) – Self-government in Opposition
After the Second World War, during the communist period, the
authorities tried to change the Galician understanding of self-government,
limiting its dimensions and action measures. This was quite unsuccessful,
as Podkarpacie was a region of the highest resistance in the country.
Its rural areas were strong in resisting the forced collectivisation of
farms. The attitudes of independence and resistance to authority were
strengthened by the Church – it is here that the churches were built “to
an extent unparalleled in any other Catholic diocese, despite the lack of
authorities’ permission”18. Speaking in public, the priests would openly
criticise the authorities’ abuses. The region also played an important
part in backing the Solidarity movement of 1980-1981, being even the
birthplace of some of its factions, e.g. NSZZ Rolników Indywidualnych
“Solidarność Wiejska” (Individual Farmers’ Trade Union “Countryside
Solidarity”)19.
Thus, the Farmers’ Trade Union was founded, just like the one at the
end of the 19th century, by “enlightened leaders” coming from the local
community, committed to the political movement in order to represent
the rights of all farmers. The main heroes of the movement were Józef
Ślisz and Józef Pelc, opposition leaders in Rzeszów and the rest of Poland.
Incidentally, they were both related to the “Valley” after 1989.
Such socio-political involvement was an action against the system
and its imposed rules. However, the opposition work, both in politics and
religion (e.g. sacrificial, joint construction of churches) was still an action
in favour of the community, full of the spirit of responsibility.
Therefore, communism, despite the restrictions imposed by authorities
over citizens in regard to civic public actions, did not destroy the essence
D. Iwaneczko, Opór społeczny a władza w Polsce południowo-wschodniej
1980-1989, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, Komisja Ścigania
Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, Warsaw 2005.
18
19
Ibid.
88
of the Galician self-governance ethos. This “preserved” ethos survived
those difficult times to be reborn along with democratic changes that began
in 1989.
2. “Strug Valley” as a Continuation of the Galician
Self-governance Model
“Strug Valley” as a collective action phenomenon started by the
establishment of a telephone cooperative – one of the first independent
telecommunications operators – is the effect of transformation, and as
such it brought about autonomy and liberty. The system transformation
opened the gates for “Strug Valley”, creating an external framework for
its appearance.
The political and economic system changes of 1989 enabled citizens
to take up free initiatives, and it was hoped they would bring about some
positive results. Recalling that period, the founders of “Strug Valley”
underline the extraordinary enthusiasm for work. “It was a common
fervour, to change and do something for the commune, which was not easy
to do earlier! There had been a magnitude of neglect, indeed! […] We
wanted to set off, work, and act!!!”
The telephone initiative was a continuation of work for the local
community in our new circumstances, in our new institutional environment.
Therefore, we can say that the changes of 1989 were not the flywheel of
social activity. It was already underway. The change was mainly about
transferring the activities from the opposition to legitimate local government
institutions. For the activists, it was a natural transition from behind the
scenes, informal involvement in social work, to an empty scene of local
politics.
All of the village-mayors and commune heads of Błażowa, Chmielnik,
Hyżne and Tyczyn (the “Strug Valley” initiative group) elected during the
first local government elections in 1990 entered the system transformation
with a load of experience in often long-term opposition cooperation during
communism. All of them (and also some of the councillors) acted in one of
the “Solidarity” factions – workers and peasants. Thanks to that, they were
vested with the relations and bond capital developed on their ground.
The most important link constituting a point of contact for individuals
and their connections net was the aforementioned Józef Ślisz – a peasant
activist, later vice-speaker of the Senate (1989-1993). Ślisz is an icon
– both to Podkarpacie (organiser of farmer strikes), and to the whole
89
nation (the only representative of southeastern Poland invited to the Lech
Wałęsa Citizen Committee, consisting of 135 intellectuals and advisors).
He was the chairman of NSZZ “Solidarność”, conducting negotiations
during the so-called Round Table with communist authorities on the
conditions of giving back the power. He is remembered as a charismatic
leader who gathered opposition activists and a highly respected mentor –
a visionary but pragmatic. He pointed out the method of implementing the
telephone cooperative idea, bringing the American and Canadian solutions
to Podkarpacie. He was the man linking the local cooperation network.
Later on, he played the role of an intermediary with whose help the local
networks could reach farther into the environment. For example, as vicespeaker of the Polish Senate, he helped break bureaucratic barriers placed
against the then founded independent telephone cooperative.
Thus, in 1990 the local political scene was populated by people
working in already formed cooperation networks and equipped with the
capital of common knowledge, enabling the creation of a common ground.
They were also equipped with the particular, “preserved”, Galician selfgovernance ethos.
“Strug Valley” did not emerge from nowhere. It was deeply rooted
in the Galician understanding of self-governance. The transformation at
the beginning of the 1990s did not cause the erosion of the previously
formed understanding of roles. You might say that there was an adoption
of a new institutional system provided by the transformation. However, the
traditional, Galician understanding of self-governance has not changed,
not to the leaders, to whom governance still meant working for the local
community which has not withdrawn the permission for the leaders to take
up initiatives in its favour. It was confirmed by the first local government
election results – the power was given to the ones who had already worked
for the common wealth.
In “Strug Valley” we are dealing with a trust based network construction
bringing together regional leaders (mayors, village heads, and local
government officials) rather than an actual public-private partnership. As
one of our interlocutors stated: “We have not even been aware then that
it would later be called a public-private partnership. And we have been
in this business before! We were creating an information society, setting
up the Internet at schools, when practically there was almost no Internet
in Poland”. The telephone cooperative among communes was not based
on any formal document of cooperation. At least no one recalls signing
any “pacts” defining the roles and responsibilities of each partner and
specifying the rules of cooperation.
90
In this model, there is no room for inter-sector cooperation understood
as local governance, since it is based on the network of socially committed
actors, for whom the local government was an area and tool of action.
As a result of the transition of the civic commitment potential to the local
government sphere, the traditional definition of the third sector makes
no sense anymore. Its dimensions shrink. However, not because it is out
of the present consideration (in the “Valley” there was consent for local
community based initiatives), but because the local government looked
from both perspectives at the same time. And thus, there was no need for
additional, rank-and-file, broad initiatives. The newly created order was
a kind of a hybrid local government and social work system.
The further history of “Strug Valley” is a story of evolution from
a network system to other forms of action. The history of the “Valley”,
after the telephones were installed, seems to give evidence to the collapse
of the Galician model influenced by its collisions with requirements and
restrictions of the contemporary public affairs management methods, and
probably with tough free market rules as well. We will try to reveal it in
the next section.
3. “Strug Valley” Local Governance Culture:
The Evolution of a Model
The conducted research clearly shows that the partnership cooperation
in “Strug Valley” is of a dynamic nature. It would take various forms at
different stages. Therefore, we cannot say that there are uniform common
action models. Most certainly, the present “Valley” differs from the one of
the mid-1990s, which in turn stands apart from the one at the beginning of
the 21st century.
The “Strug Valley” story is a process where a combination of two kinds
of activity seems essential – the establishment of new institutions serving
as action measures and the subsequent system change – a reconfiguration of
the “Valley” shape. The “Valley” history can be split into three periods:
• The phase of the old model domination, corresponding to the stage of
creation and setting in motion the District Telephone Cooperative;
• The phase of searching for a new formula of action corresponding
to the stage of founding Stowarzyszenie Rolno-Przemysłowe “Strug
Valley” (the agro-industrial association “Strug Valley”);
• The phase of the old model deconstruction, searching for an appropriate
strategy of functioning on the market.
91
Figure 1 illustrates this process.
Figure 1. An Illustration of the “Strug Valley” Development Process
Source: Authors.
Galician Model Domination
At first, i.e. at the stage of founding the independent Telephone
Cooperative, we were fulfilling new institutions, delivered with the
system transformation, with an old “Galician” mode of action. It appears
that this process took its impetus adapting these institutions to a common
understanding of civic activities.
The inter-commune cooperation started off by creating an independent,
cooperative telephone network. The final form of the undertaking is the
effect of a lucky coincidence of several factors:
• The vision and initiative of the village mayor of Chmielnik (with
certain prior knowledge in telecommunications);
• Practical executive instructions20 based on knowledge captured and
observed by Ślisz in the American methods of implementation of such
undertakings (supported by the help of his American partners)21;
20
E.g. recommendation for cooperative organisation structure
Please note that the activity of Ślisz resembles Stefczyk’s implementation of
Western European solutions.
21
92
•
Access to specialist expertise (of telecommunications specialists,
e.g. working for the Polish Post Telegraph and Telephone and of
economists). Their knowledge allowed for the application of modern
technological solutions and the best formal and legal solutions.
Taking into consideration the complexity of task, the amount of work
to do, and the project costs, telephone installations were not supposed
to be executed only by one commune. The target selection imposed
a collective action. Hence, the logical consequence was local government
cooperation, as only the communes had access to finances (directly from
the budget or indirectly from loans) and resources (e.g. personal) needed
for this investment. It is, however, worth noting that the whole telephone
partnership was, above all, a cooperation of socially committed oficials
of local government.
It is important for the analysis of the whole “Strug Valley” phenomenon,
as the telephone cooperative – the first undertaking of the “Valley” – is
in fact an embodiment of the Galician cooperation mode, in which the
individual (or group) commitment working in favour of a community
determine the direction and form of actions22. In the case of the “Valley”,
the cooperative formula of the venture organisation may be misleading, as
in reality the work on telephone installations was performed by a group
of activists assembled in the first term local governments of the Błażowa,
Chmielnik, Hyżne and Tyczyn communes23 and not the common work of
civic society. One interlocutor described the village-mayor work at the time
of creating the cooperative in this way: “So we drive through the communes,
prepare the documents, evening and night. Here you make a photocopy
of the documents, there you get them stamped, then you go to Warsaw,
you sleep on the train or you don’t. Finally, you get there. Pioneer stuff –
a lot of work. But work, which, thank God, was not wasted”.
During the first years of its functioning until 1994 the cooperation
was informal. Moreover, formalisation at that time was seen as an issue
secondary to goal-oriented actions. The documentation was reduced to a
formally required minimum. Such a way of proceeding balancing on the
verge of law or inconsiderate actions) along with the confusion of local
22
Please note that the decision to begin improving the quality of life of poor,
underdeveloped “Valley” commune citizens with telephones instead of sewages, water-supply systems, gas networks or new roads, hospitals and wastewater treatment plants
was nothing less but obvious.
23
Later, also the work of leaders-organisers, who naturally emerged from the Social
Telephone Committees operating in all villages with installed telephones.
93
governments and the civic engagement order gives an impression of the
system opacity.
It is, however, worth noting that, paradoxically, this opacity
– incidentally possible also due to the original flexibility of young
democratic and institutional structures – was not of a dysfunctional nature.
On the contrary, the telephone cooperative was highly efficient. It appears
that in this case, the opacity was a sort of “side effect” of the Galician
understanding of local governance institutions.
By around 1994, the initial stage was finished. From the point of
view of the government cooperation goals, the cooperative became an
autonomous entity and obtained the economic independence. Becoming
an independent market entity meant the end of a certain phase of initiative
group cooperation. Therefore, it became essential to find a new action
formula. One of the “Strug Valley” founders expressed it explicitly:
“I remember [there was enormous pressure] to formalise us […], so that
we were not just o group of friends talking to one another, so that we
become unified and formal in some way [...]. The telephones are ringing,
there are new tasks, so the unified group would act together. We had to get
formal”.
Appropriate Cooperation Model. Mortally Close Cooperation
within the Association
In 1994, on the eve of the second term local government elections,
the main players of telephone installations – mayors, village heads and
chairmen of the Błażowa, Chmielnik, Hyżne and Tyczyn Commune
Councils – established the “Strug Valley” Agro-Industrial Association.
The bringing to life of a unit, creating a new platform of integration, was
caused by:
• The necessity to re-legitimise the actions of a working cooperation
system, goal reorientation, and network “settlement”;
• Trying to find ways of using the experience, knowledge, how to succeed
by joint efforts;
• Desire to consolidate social capital emerged in the course of collective
work on telephone installations.
The foundation of a new institution was to become a remedy for the
expected system “slackness” support keeping the accumulated potential
on stand-by. The trouble is that the association, which was established
to support the work for the region, was a bizarre hybrid, gathering the
94
communes – as supporting members – and individuals, performing the
functions of local government representatives (village-mayors, mayors
and council chairmen). It was thus an institution formally representing the
third sector and yet symbiotic with the local government administration.
On the one hand, it was an organism whose form could be applied in a
public-private partnership model, while on the other hand, it was operating
in accordance with fixed patterns of the Galician ethos.
In other words, since the beginning of its existence, the association,
like the cooperative, has struggled with the problem of order confusion
and opacity. In the case of telephones, the goal view determining the action
direction, apart from initial perturbations and resistance, has been shared.
In the case of the Agro-Industrial Association, we can hardly talk of a goal
clear understanding.
In regard to institutional processes, the association was a laboratory,
where it was attempted to create a synthesis of an old action pattern with
a new form. Observing the process of creation and forming the association
means in fact watching the dilemmas of joint inter-commune policy, such
as:
• The direction and method of action;
• The rules of units cooperation in a multi-order system, the boundaries
of different roles operating space;
• The rules and limits of institutional entities integration.
It is commonly believed by the actors that the main cause of
disagreements within the association at its start was a clash of two points of
view of the “Strug Valley” course of action. The “liberal” vision24 directed
at strengthening the regional potential by stimulating its competitiveness,
which was supposed to initiate the market mechanisms of attracting
the investment capital and, in consequence, led to the improvement of
the population material situation with a concept of, let us call it “work
at the foundations”– the direct usage of regional resources (e.g. natural
resources, human resources – unemployed manpower) to counteract
poverty, unemployment, and social pathologies.
The first vision is called the promotional approach, while the second is
termed the employment approach, as it concentrates on job creation using
the potential of the region. The point is, however, that the orientations are
not mutually exclusive. It seems that the difficulty to mark up the route to
the goal, which, by the way, has never been questioned (it was the region’s
24
The authors’ term.
95
development and the improvement of life of local community) was
connected with the controversy over responsibility transfer. The liberal
concept concentrates on creating infrastructure opportunities and leaving
the ultimate goal to free market mechanisms, whereas the concept of work
using the resources is based on goal management. In this context, it directly
refers to an old Galician understanding of self-governance. It implies the
necessity of identifying resources and the ways of their combination.
It fosters and legitimises the position of a strong leader – the person who
appoints them. The second, even more “hidden” factor generating tensions
and a lack of understanding in the association is the issue of the method of
combining entities committed to the creation of “Strug Valley”. It appears
that the intensity of the dispute about the directions and methods of regional
development comes directly from the association form of institutions
uniting the main network players. The association, as previously mentioned,
was founded to tighten the bonds and cooperation forms. The problem is
that the new structures have turned out to be too narrow to encompass
a variety of visions. Unlike the loose federal systems visible at the stage of
creating the Telephone Cooperative, the Agro-Industrial Association had
a very tight structure, which was “blown up” from within by individualistic
tendencies.
The described processes pertain to the inner dynamics of social
networks constructing “Strug Valley”. It is, however, worth noting that
the external conditions were also changing, thus affecting the cooperation
pattern oriented at managing public matters. In other words, the erosion of
the Galician model was stimulated from two sides – from the inside (by
the aforementioned processes) and from the outside by macro processes
such as:
• A gradual fading of the necessity of cooperation, e.g. collective harvest,
as a result of technological changes in agriculture;
• Migration, inflow of the population from the Rzeszów agglomeration;
• Consolidation of democratic institutions and, in effect, the postulates
of institutional transparency.
Activity Individuation – Statue Change
Finally, after 1995, there was a structural change – separate activities
were isolated and a new coordination structure was created (a multinetwork system). We can talk about three pathways followed by these
process participants:
96
•
Economic initiative pathway – Scientia, Ltd. was called into being
within a public-private partnership framework (composed of the
Tyczyn commune and natural persons). The company founded the
Social Economic College in Tyczyn.
• Social economic initiative pathway – the company “ChmielnikZdrój”, JSC was called into being within a public-private partnership
framework (composed of the Chmielnik commune, a natural person,
and later the “Trzeźwa Gmina” [“Sober Commune”] Association).
• Non-governmental initiative pathway – a direction chosen by the
“Strug Valley” Association.
The “Strug Valley” Association was a synthesis attempt, i.e. an attempt
to be involved in a modern inter-sector cooperation while maintaining
a traditional approach towards the authorities’ responsibility for the society.
The attempt was not successful as the actors were limited by organisational
forms that were too tight. Not only are the three development paths
(chosen later) different from one another in regard to defining methods
for reaching goals, but also to the proportion of the old paradigm vs. the
new one. “Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC acts according to the Galician tradition, the
“Strug Valley” Association reflects the model of private-public partnership,
whereas Scientia, Ltd. and the College fall somewhere in between.
It was no longer possible to make use of the Galician model in its pure form
due to an external change – the change of local government statues. Since
2002, commune heads and mayors have been elected directly by commune
citizens, not by the commune council. The introduction of this novelty took
place at the time of the “Strug Valley” local political scene reconstruction.
Local government heads were changed. The statue reform exerted serious
influence on the local government style. Direct elections gave the mayors
and commune heads more power. At the same time, it was now necessary
to be transparent in regard to politics. The authorities had to take better care
of their PR image. Until 2002, in “Strug Valley”, local government officials
would often hold two responsible roles: that of a local government head and
that of a company chairman. After the political changes took place, all of the
“Valley” communes saw these functions being divided.
4. “Strug Valley” Economic Initiatives Aimed
at Meritocratic Management
The Galician model evolution, i.e. the process of recognising the
autonomy, competence division, and the individual partners’ action
97
limits, is reflected also in the way the „Strug Valley” economic initiatives
have been constructed and developed, and most of all – in the changes
regarding particular initiatives management: from direct local government
responsibilities to the model called “meritocratic management”.
The dynamics of this process has been clearly reflected in the history of
the District Telephone Cooperative (OST). The OST management model
evolution has been going on parallel to the changes taking place within
the “Strug Valley” partnership (or network). It started off with a federal
level, went through the four person level, then a “representative” board of
directors, and finally ended up with professional management executed by
one chairman. Let us take a closer look at the outlines of this process.
At first, the telephone line installation was seen as a Galician model
activity in which the engaged entities were trying to combine different
resources, such as knowledge, finances and connections, and use them
in order to create and improve initiatives called into being for the local
community. In the case of the telephone project, the “Galician tendency”
was predominant quite early – at the level of creating the cooperative in
which the proper deployment of expert knowledge coming from external
sources was of significant importance. It was mainly thanks to the external
networks of the “Strug Valley” initiators’ inter-personal connections that
this knowledge was used within the social consultancy framework.
The way in which the cooperative initiative was founded in its startup phase was reflective of the Galician model. At first, the telephone
line installation was based on the partner, federal cooperation of
four independent entities (the cooperatives: Telephone in Chmielnik;
Communications in Błażowa, Echo in Hyżne, and Teletyczyn in Tyczyn)
coordinated by the Tyczyn OST (headquartered in Tyczyn), chaired by
the initiator of the whole enterprise – the Chmielnik commune head.
Economic reasons called for using the loose federal establishment.
Formally independent, each cooperative was able to take individual loans,
which resulted in having access to more funds. The federal establishment
resulted also from the fact that telephone line installation in a region so
shaped in regard to physical administration required decentralisation.
It seems that, apart from the economic-administrative aspect, the decision
to create four, federal and yet independent entities was based on political
reasons too. Each commune cooperative was independent in deciding
about concrete, particular solutions. All the decisions were taken inside
the communes with a significant participation of telephone installation
leaders, often connected with local governments. It was thus impossible to
create decision competition among cooperating communes. It was a very
98
important solution for the initiative start-up itself. The initiative did not
fall flat thanks to this clarification. “It was better that they could take their
own decisions in each commune, even in each town. It was agreed that we
[…] do the first string and up to 100 metres of service line. If there was
somebody living further away, wanting to prolong the line to his place –
then he would have to pay for it himself. But for example people in Tyczyn
came to the conclusion that regardless of where one lives, everybody pays
the same amount. So the telephones appeared on the mountain”.
During the federal period, the OST was still using the free help
provided by external experts. Thanks to that, four commune cooperatives
were incorporated to the OST, and their assets were transferred as a
contribution in kind. This decision was taken on the basis of an economist’s
suggestion.
The 1994 merger was the final part of the company’s economic
independence25 resulting in having to change the cooperative management
model. A four-person board of directors was called into being. It was
composed of commune representatives (one from each commune). This
establishment did not seem perfect from the point of view of decision
making effectiveness. The representative board stage lasted approximately
four years and it was rather instable. The destabilisation resulted also from
disagreements within the partnership network – happening inside the then
appointed “Strug Valley” Agro-Industrial Association. The OST economic
independence meant that it became a full-fledged market player. It had
nothing to do with social or amateur work anymore. It became part of a
world in which it was not so easy to gain free help and consultancy. After all,
social consultancy does collide with the competitiveness logic. Therefore,
OST had to become more and more professional, if the Cooperative
wanted to exist on the market. Again, it was necessary to develop a new
management model for the enterprise.
In 1998, the statues were changed as a result of voting. The fourperson board was changed into a one-person board. The cooperative was
now managed by one of the main “Strug Valley” telephone installation
architects, who had been involved in the project since the beginning.
He was a Błażowa first term commune council chairman, a
telecommunications expert with many years of experience in managerial
positions in a large telecommunications company.
25
It triggered off the stage of looking for a new cooperation formula between the
partners.
99
This is how the cooperative started to be managed in a meritocratic
way making it independent from the direct influences of local
government stakeholders. The cooperative is still prosperous on today’s
telecommunications market largely thanks to that move. Its offer is
technologically advanced, and the company is one of the market leaders.
The OST development is a transfer from the full, social engagement of its
initiators (local government representatives) to the establishment in which
the development path is defined by a professional specialist, not related
to local government structures. It is a transfer from the Galician model
to a model of functional divisions characterised by clear responsibilities
among stakeholders and among various sectors. The final model is that
of transparency and professionalism. The echoes of this process can also
be heard in the history of the “Strug Valley” Regional Agro-Industrial
Association. The fact that this process reflects the development of an
initiative which is not strictly economic proves that it is important and
universal for the “Valley”. Therefore, it can be said that the whole “Strug
Valley” is a multi-level history of changing management models.
Let us remember that the association was created to be a new
cooperation platform for local government officials wanting to develop the
region. Its constricted organisational structure, however, did not manage
to have enough room for various visions whose part was finally executed
as separate economic initiatives26, quite independent from the association.
After some time, the organisation shaped the scope of its activities and
focused on training programmes supporting the “Valley” community.
It made excellent use of financial help offered by domestic and foreign
funds (including accession and, later, EU funds). The “Valley” has been
developing dynamically since 2002. The “Strug Valley” Association is now
an expert in acquiring funds and executing training and assistance projects.
The pool of funds acquired and used for social programmes increased five
times from 2002 to 2007. The association has executed almost 20 different
projects27, it has established an office and has employed a few people.
The professionalism of the Agro-Industrial Association partly stems
from the internal order of the organisation. Paradoxically, thanks to
relieving the association of its local government top management, it was
no longer perceived as a two face entity and began to function as a model
26
i.e. “Chmielnik-Zdrój”, JSC, and the Social-Economic College.
Organisation of consultation points for farmers and small companies, professional
activation for country women, free English courses, participation in two editions of the
“Leader+” programme.
27
100
third sector organisation. In short, the association managed to define the
limits of its activities, its role and its relation to partners, as well as the
tools with which it wanted to realise its objectives. The association and
the local government are now cooperating like real partners within the
‘Leader+’ programme which became a platform for working together on
the “Strug Valley” regional development.
The company “Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC is, on the other hand, an attempt
to reverse the logic of the “Strug Valley” model evolution. The enterprise
was called into being as an answer to problems leading to the local
community exclusion. One of them is the lack of outlet markets for agrarian
products, which made it necessary to create jobs outside agriculture and
undertake certain actions promoting local products and acquiring outlet
markets for them. A lot of people are addicted in the region. In order to
tackle this issue, a comprehensive therapy programme (including new jobs
for alcohol addicts) was initiated. Therefore, “Chmielnik Zdrój” seems to
be a social economy project, even though it is a listed company. The whole
construction of the enterprise is as Galician as it can be – both in regard
to defining its activity aims (helping the local community) and finding
management-organisational solutions. The company is managed socially
– by the initiators and shareholders. From the point of view of described
process of professionalisation, the company is at the pre-meritocratic level.
It did not manage to avoid a lot of obstacles lurking for market players. For
example it employed too many people, almost 50028 in high season (in a
commune populated by approximately 6,200 men, women, and children).
Maintaining high employment levels brought about a financial crisis
in the company. It was refused the promised EU funds. Thus, taking into
account the transformation model, we can say that “Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC
is still waiting for the right director to manage it.
On the basis of our analysis it cannot be stated for sure that the
traditional, Galician initiative management method is worse. It just has
to be completed with modern planning and proper economic activities.
We will observe a similar situation in the next section. It is not about
changing the models, but rather about finding the right proportions.
28
There was an employment restructuring in the company. Now, 150 people are
working there (company data).
101
Figure 2. “Strug Valley” Initiatives in Cooperation Model Changes
Source: Authors.
5. “Strug Valley” Economic Initiatives
– Embeddedness and Empowerment
In order for economic initiatives created in the framework of the social
economy to be effective they should be rooted in local communities.
The company ought to be socially connected with the stakeholders (such
as customers and suppliers) belonging to the community in which the
organisation is operating. Partners should be treated with particular attention
and respect. The result is that such a company takes into consideration not
only market factors.
From this point of view, we can say that all the “Strug Valley”
economic initiatives are “embedded”. Each initiative makes use of different
instruments relating it to the local community, in various ways. Let us take
a closer look at particular solutions.
The most important OST29 root instruments are: the offer profile and
the way stakeholders are allowed to co-decide about the company. The
cooperative’s offer is divided into two parts: services based on special
preferences for the cooperative members (for example, low standing
charges, low Internet fees, free calls within the area of four “Strug Valley”
communes, free Internet access for schools and public libraries, services
improving the quality of life – such as telecardiomed, and the possibility
29
Telekardiomed makes it possible to undergo an EKG test and give back the test
results to the patient on the phone.
102
of receiving individual bonuses – such as even lower standing charges
for the poorest), and services paid in full (Internet access, Internet TV).
On the one hand, the offer diversification fulfils the company philosophy
focused on helping the local community, while on the other hand, it allows
the company to gain the profits necessary to finance social objectives and
develop itself further, and to increase the quality of its services.
Another important aspect of the company being socially rooted is the
way it is managed, taking into consideration the opinions of stakeholders.
Each OST co-owner (currently 7,000 natural persons and legal entities),
regardless of its share size, has one vote. Every five years, the members
choose their representatives who, during annual meetings, take binding
decisions on issues such as the cooperative’s financial plans, admissible
levels of financial liabilities, authorisation of financial statements submitted
by the Supervisory Board, statute changes, and selecting and dismissing
Supervisory Board members. The cooperative’s Board of Directors meets
with all of the cooperative’s members once a year. The meetings are held
in all 28 towns in which the OST operates.
The rooting mechanism of the company “Chmielnik Zdrój”, JSC is quite
different. On the one hand, the enterprise creates its customer relations, while
on the other it focuses on local suppliers – farmers providing raw materials
(crops, and produce) and local employees. The company (producing Alfred
mineral water, flavoured drinks, and organic food – vegetables, bread,
honey) is strongly related to its local customers. It uses individual sales
techniques, employing its own sales representatives who sell products to
local customers directly, for instance in their flats. Each “Chmielnik Zdrój”
salesman builds up and then provides services to his/her own customer
network (the company has more than 50,000 regular customers30 today).
Thanks to this marketing approach, the company has developed strong
and individual customer relations. It is Customer Relationship Marketing
aimed at providing services to the local community (most of its clients),
the very essence of rooting.
“Chmielnik Zdrój” takes good care of local suppliers and employees,
treating it as its mission. The social aim here is more important than
the economic one. We must remember that the company was created
to provide new employment opportunities outside agriculture, open up
outlet markets for local agrarian producers, and assist with the therapeutic
process of alcohol addicts. As far as local suppliers are concerned –
30
Data based on company information.
103
the company guarantees buying crops and produce from them 31, helps
them obtain ecological certifications for their products and make proper
decisions in regard to production processes, and encourages them to
undertake innovative ventures (e.g. grow untypical plant types). As for
the local employment – the company, located in the centre of regional
unemployment, gives work to people trying to stop being alcohol addicts
and supports their therapy (offering elastic work hours adapted to their
therapy schedule). The company is a fervent supporter of sobriety actions
and the charitable “Trzeźwa Gmina” (sober commune) Association.
The rooting has a more direct character in regard to the Social
Economic College in Tyczyn. Here, the market mechanisms are effectively
used, stimulating the commune’s development: the College employs
administrative staff mainly from the local community, it makes contributions
to the commune budget, improves demand on the local market (lodging,
restaurants, etc.), and helps renovate historic buildings in the city32.
The College offers 10% rebates on tuition fees for “Strug Valley” students.
The first thing “Strug Valley” brings to mind is the famous telephone
installation. Most microregion inhabitants make the equation between the
telephone cooperative and the “Valley”. The social effect generated by the
OST may be called “empowerment”33, the unusual strengthening of the
local community. It is a very deep, almost revolutionary, cultural change.
The telephone became part of people’s everyday lives, changing them
completely: children do their homework on the phone and older people talk
to one another for long hours (sometimes in a group, teleconference mode).
The telephone became a major instrument of social integration. One of
the people we talked to said: the (physical and financial) availability of
telecommunications services made it possible “for people to start talking
to one another”. They do talk – a lot! It has been estimated that the total
length of telephone conversations in the “Valley” is more or less on the
level of a large city. At the early stages, the cooperative operated on the
level comparable to that of New York34.
31
Farmers sign short-term or mid-term contracts with the company, which allows
them to sell their products without having to take them to distant wholesalers. It is a
source of secure income, and certainty in regard to the successive year market situation
32
Today, the college is part of the non-public Rzeszów School of Informatics and
Management. Our analysis was conducted when the College was still an independent
entity.
33
“Empowerment” here is understood as the effect of actions aimed at helping the
local community or actions undertaken by the community itself in order to be stronger.
34
Data source: B. Bubula, Sami sobie, “Obywatel”, 2003, No. 5.
104
The OST success was an encouraging example for other innovative
economic activities. None of them, however (not even “Chmielnik Zdrój”,
JSC or the College), managed to create so much “empowerment” or
entrepreneurship stimulation. The “Strug Valley” inhabitants treat the
cooperative like an icon of their success. In people’s minds, the other
initiatives are not so much associated with the “Valley”.
The “Chmielnik Zdrój” company is particularly interesting in this
respect for our analysis. The company was created in order to help the local
community and it makes use of a vast array of rooting instruments.
The history of its creation is almost mythical, as in its early days the
company was following a kind of informal methods – it was just a small
bottling plant located in commune cellars that had been constructed as
nuclear shelters, the waters were manually bottled, production handled by
several people – mainly the unemployed35. Therefore, one might think that
“Chmielnik Zdrój” is predestined to fulfill the role of a rooted company, a
partner for local stakeholders. However, according to feedback given by
co-operators, the rooting is rather weak36 in spite of the vast array of used
means. The rooting is made no stronger by employees’ ideas to establish
trade unions. In conclusion, we may say that the most important “Chmielnik
Zdrój” stakeholders do not identify themselves with the venture as it is not
“their” creation.
When analysing the process of the gradual straying away from the
Galician model to the public issue management through inter-sector
cooperation, it is a good idea to juxtapose two ventures particularly
concerned with social objective fulfilments – the OST and “Chmielnik
Zdrój”. Both companies were founded in a Galician style. They were both
developed with a flourish and a certain amount of non-transparency from
the institutional point of view. The rules of local governments, the market,
and citizens were all mixed up. There were no clear-cut responsibility
limits. The OST proves that the Galician model can be very successful.
In other words, the “Strug Valley” experiences demonstrate that it is
not possible to say that the inter-sector cooperation and the publicprivate partnership are better forms of activity, a better approach
to public matters. The effectiveness of the Galician model – whose
irrefutable advantage is its receptiveness towards the local community
35
Data source: Garbacz, op. cit.
A. Gramzow, Experience with Endogenous Rural Development Initiatives and the
Prospects for Leader+ in the Region “Dolina Strugu”, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural
Development in Central and Eastern Europe, Discussion Paper No. 89, 2005.
36
105
needs – depends on fulfilling two conditions: 1) sticking to market rules
which render it possible to maintain profitability, and competitiveness;
meritocratic management, and 2) streamlining the company rooting level
and balancing its economic and social goals. To put it simply, preferential
treatment for local stakeholders while maintaining market calculations and
economic settlements.
There are different kinds of rooting. The Social Economic College
represents an establishment with a dominant market element, “Chmielnik
Zdrój” seems to be rooted too much with its predominance of social
objectives, and the OST seems to be an ideal proportion of both (social and
economic) aspects. Paradoxically, a good social economic venture must
not overrate the social component of its objective.
When analysing the rooting levels, it is necessary to remember that the
companies we are describing are the most effective organisations in the
region37.
6. Summary
“Strug Valley” is not just an initiative or a single venture, but it is
a multi-level, well-thought combination of actions, solutions, and
connections. The history of the “Valley” reflects the transition from
the Galician local government model to inter-sector cooperation. The
transition does not have to mean giving up one way completely in favour
of the other. Its most important aspect is the model “upgrade” – adapting
the proven Galician methods to new standards resulting from changing
public issue management norms. All the actions have to be transparent and
professional. As for the partner cooperation, the model change included
the establishment of clear-cut responsibility and competence limits of
particular actors (local government, business, third sector organisations).
In the field of economic initiatives, the transition was mainly concerned
with meritocratic management implementation and establishing proper
root levels.
In order to explain the “Strug Valley” processes, the laboratory
metaphor is extremely useful. The laboratory is a workshop for testing
and developing the optimal partner cooperation model, looking for an
adequate formula of united actions. It reminds us of medieval alchemic
study rooms where people were trying to discover the philosopher’s stone
37
T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny. Ekonomia społeczna.
Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2007.
106
– a magic substance that changes metals into gold. In the “Strug Valley”
laboratory, people would look for something valuable for the cooperation,
for best local community solutions, the best remedy. Let us not forget that
the beginnings of partner cooperation from the 1990s were characterised
by the lack of clearly defined inter-sector cooperation procedures, so the
original “Valley” establishment was quite experimental in its character.
“Strug Valley” was a stormy attempt to find proper formulas adapted to
the changing social, economic, and legal conditions in early, post-communist
Poland. One of the most important demands was the crystallisation of intersector cooperation standards and the promotion of the transparency public
institutions.
The laboratory metaphor reflects the dynamics of processes taking
place inside the “Valley” cooperators’ network. Just like in chemistry
laboratories, the processes would often be violent, sudden, and rapid.
The peculiar “Strug Valley” voltage setup would make the public matters
management transition process occur in all sorts of difficult situations. Apart
from all that, the laboratory processes were modified by external factors,
such as the modernisation of the local government election system.
This analysis is one of many possible interpretations of the “Strug
Valley” phenomenon. It does not pertain to evaluating it. Our selection of
facts on which the review has been based may make someone think that
the “Valley” is haunted by some negative shadows. It has to be underlined,
however, that the “Valley’s” institutional and social achievements are quite
impressive. “Strug Valley” is a powerful cannon built on a fallow. It is a
great example of momentous actions, courage, commitment and effort. At
the same time, the “Valley” is not a delusion or a castle in the air. The social
and economic initiatives undertaken by the “Valley” have been extremely
successful in developing the commune and its people. It is shown in press
articles, talked about during various conferences, and presented in scientific
analyses. The “Valley” has become an interesting subject for the Polish
parliament, the world of business, foreign scientists, and international
organisations, such as the UN. Our article has presented different aspects
of this region’s development and we hope that our ideas will help create
effective and innovative solutions in other parts of Poland.
A Green Goose in Rodaki – The Transformation
of a Successful Project into Local Community
Development1
Located north west of the Małopolskie province, by the border with
Silesia, Rodaki is a Klucze commune in the Olkuski district village.
It neighbours upon a large enclave of the Jurajski Protected Landscape
Area. The region is full of forests sliced by valleys with numerous rocks
and caves. There are hillsides to the north of the village and meadows to
the south and east.
Rodaki is inhabited by merely one thousand people. At first glance,
it is a normal, tidy village with two churches – a new, parish church
made of brick, and a tiny, historic 17th-century church. There is a primary
school in the centre of the village, a Volunteer Fire Brigade (Ochotnicza
Straż Pożarna) station, a post office, and a small shop. A careful observer
will be able to see strange boards, located at several points in the village,
depicting a goose. He might also be interested in wicker baskets full of
geraniums, displayed almost in each garden. These are the visible signs
of the project entitled: “Green Goose in the Land of White Fluff”. The
initiative was supposed to be a minor venture, and yet its positive results
were surprising even to the authors of the project. The initiative helped
the local community achieve unexpected success in a very short time:
1
The article is an English version of the paper published in Polish as: K. Hernik,
J. Kisiel, Zielona Gęś w Rodakach, czyli jak przekuć sukces projektu na rozwój
społeczności lokalnej, in: T. Kaźmierczak, K. Hernik (eds.), Społeczność lokalna
w działaniu. Kapitał społeczny – potencjał społeczny – lokalne governance, Institute
of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008, pp. 453-69 (Editors’ note).
108
their village became famous, not only within the region. These days,
it is visited by Polish and foreign media representatives and awarded
prestigious prizes.
We have decided to analyse this phenomenon. In 2007, during
the summer, we visited the village twice. We conducted a series of
unstructured interviews with 10 people deemed important in the
eyes of the local community, who are involved in the most important
undertakings. We had also talked to the Klucze commune head and the
Social Welfare Centre (Ośrodek Pomocy Społecznej) director, who
provided us with additional insight2. Moreover, we had a chance to see
how the village citizens were able to act during a special event they had
organised and called the “Meadow Mowing Festival”.
Apart from all that, we used information from press articles and other
available publications on the village – chronicles kept by the villagers,
and documents on the Rodaki and Klucze regional development,
including stenographic records of the Commune Council meetings.
In Rodaki, we were able to capture the citizens’ social activity wave
at the moment of its first discouragement signs being observable, but
shifted aside immediately. The community is so strong that it does not
let the grass grow under its feet. We will try to shed some light on how
the village’s capacity has been created, on the role of collective action
traditions, the origins of the region development, and the influence
exerted by external factors. We will also present the internal institutions
network and the way it operates. We will review some local economic
initiative, based on the “Green Goose in the Land of White Fluff” project,
and analyse the prospects of Rodaki Local Partnership development.
1. Social Capital
Regional Traditions
Rodaki is a frontier village influenced by three regions which
belonged to three, different annexed territories3 during the 19th
2
Interview fragments are cited in italics, and divided into respondents’ functions
(formal/informal) in the analysis. The respondents’ names have not been disclosed, as, in
accordance with the field research rules, the interviews have not been authorised.
3
The partition of Poland among three bordering states – Russia, Prussia, and
Austria – took place at the end of the 18th century. Throughout the whole 19th century,
Polish territories, belonging to each partition, were influenced by different development
processes – both socially, and economically. Formally, Rodaki was located under Russian
A Green Goose in Rodaki – The Transformation of a Successful...
109
century. Close to Silesia, today it is part of the Małopolska province.
During the 19th century, Rodaki was located within the administrative
borders of Congress Kingdom (under the Russian partition), but its
residents’ employment structure and sources of income was definitely
characteristic of Silesia. Infertile land often forced the residents to
have two jobs and to work in nearby Silesian factories and coal mines.
They often spent their free time dealing with inefficient farms. Under
the partition, Congress Kingdom administration exerted influence
upon Rodaki inhabitants. Our analysis, however, needs to take into
consideration factors such as: agrarian structure, traditions, and local
bonds. These factors prove that Rodaki is, in fact, more related to
Galicia than to Congress Kingdom or Silesia. This assumption is based
on comparative research conducted by Jerzy Bartkowski4 who said that
typical Galician villages are characterised by the following: strong local
bonds, traditions, residential habits, local integration, and settlement
structural factors (Galician villages are less populous, but larger and
more united than those in other parts of Poland).
Galician characteristics stem from live local communities, Catholic
Church social influences, and the continuity of individual, family
and community lives. The communal existence may be observed in
collective social and political behaviours, as well as in various activities
of institutions and organisations supporting local bonds and cultural
traditions. The collective cohesion and solidarity is quite visible in the
region. The residents – in spite of the agrarian overpopulation, nonfarm remuneration sources, and high land prices – are reluctant to leave
the place where they were born. Migrations are mostly temporary and
economic in their character. The money usually returns to the region5.
It is an excellent grounds for the development of local social life,
collective actions, and a more active and effective local government.
Apart from the abovementioned local bonds, Galicia differs from
other Polish regions because of its long traditions of autonomy and local
self-governance6. The combination of all these factors is very important:
rule (Congress Kingdom), but the village was strongly influenced by Prussian Silesia
and Polish Galicia (part of Habsburg Empire). The authors of this analysis treat Galician
models as crucially vital.
4
J. Bartkowski. Tradycja i Polityka. Wpływ tradycji kulturowych polskich regionów
na współczesne zachowania społeczne i polityczne, “Żak”, Warsaw 2003.
5
Compare remarks on migration in the work of I. Bukraba-Rylska, in this volume.
6
Compare remarks on Galician self-governance models in the work of
J. Leszczyńska and A. Dobrowolska, in this volume.
110
“Individuals treat personal experiences as part of their collective fate. All
of their protective actions, definitions and identity choices, and cultivation
of certain features are undertaken with a strong feeling of belonging to
a group. Group influences upon particular persons and spontaneous
individual reactions reinforce each other. Not only is every individual
pushed towards behaving in a certain way by his own feelings, not
only does he share them with other community members, but also he is
influenced by group pressures”7.
In our opinion, the Galician society features, described above,
and theoretical considerations about strong internal community bonds
materialise in Rodaki.
Collective Action Traditions
The Rodaki Local Partnership is definitely related to the fact that
collective action traditions are still quite strong in the village. It is thanks
to these unwritten laws that almost every public building has been built
here.
Over the ages, the inhabitants have learnt that they should count on
one another when faced with poverty, fires, or government tardiness:
“if people hadn’t done things collectively, they wouldn’t have had
anything. It is coded in our minds. It is how we came up with our watersupply, as well as gas, and telephones. We can’t forget it”8.
This tradition is rooted deeply in the past. The social committee
protecting the village historic church has existed for so long that most
residents do not even remember when it was established. According to
our respondents’ accounts, chronicle reports, and registers regarding the
Rodaki collective actions, we have been able to distinguish three periods
during which the inhabitants’ activity reached its climax. To simplify it,
we shall call these periods “social activity waves”. The first wave took
place at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, when the village was run by
today’s Rodaki grandparents. The second period occurred at the end of
the 1950s and lasted until the 1970s, when it was the today’s parents turn
to take care of things. The third wave began at the end of 1990s and has
been up and running until our own times.
The first social activity wave was linked to the beginnings of civic
society in Rodaki. The people were involved in Polish political and social
7
8
J. Bartkowski, op. cit., p. 296.
Interview with the Rodaki village head.
111
matters, and they were willing to build social organisations and work
for the benefit of local development. During the 1920s, Rodaki residents
were considerably engaged in the peasants’ movement. In 1925, they
established a Peasants’ Party (Stronnictwo Ludowe) circle within the
framework of which “Wici” – the Polish Union of Countryside Youth
(Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej RP “Wici”) – was created in 1934. For
a long time, Rodaki cultural and social life was concentrated around
“Wici”, and new social ventures were called into being: a reading room,
a library, and even a theatre group. In 1937, the Peasants’ Party circle coorganised a strike in the Olkusz district. It was in Rodaki that a secret
meeting between SL circles took place. Wincenty Witos9 was one of its
participants. A few political activists from Rodaki were arrested for
their engagement in organising the strike. “[Rodaki residents] were on a
kind of different intellectual level. They would read books, and open up
peoples’ universities. They were very close to Witos – they were a civil
society in the past, before the war [the Second World War]. It has never
changed”10.
1928 was a breakthrough year for Rodaki inhabitants. Almost
the whole village was destroyed by a disastrous fire. Faced with the
passivity of the authorities and sluggishness of the insurance company,
the residents started acting on their own. They signed a mutual agreement
in accordance with which some people relinquished their rights to outer
lands. A new village plan was developed, and every fire victim was
allowed to build a new house. This is how one of the unwritten laws was
created. It says that you should relinquish a part of your own land, if such
is the demand bringing about the general wealth of the village. When
rebuilding their houses, Rodaki residents decided not to let such disasters
happen in the future, and they established a Volunteer Fire Brigade
(VFB). The firemen annexed a shed, which had been previously used to
fire roofing tiles, and arranged a station, as well as a common room in it.
The whole village was trying its best to equip its new fire brigade.
After the Second World War, the process of reconstructing social and
cultural institutions in Rodaki began. The Volunteer Fire Brigade and a
primary school (existing since the mid-1920s, with its main office in the
Community House (dom ludowy) were reactivated. The political situation
9
One of the most famous peasant leaders in Poland at the turn of the 20th century.
During the interwar period he was the prime minister of the Republic of Poland three
times.
10
Interview with the Klucze commune head.
112
made it impossible, however, to re-establish the people’s movement
destroyed in the country by communist authorities. The village capacity
was energised again by the new generation, in the second half of the
1950s. It was the beginning of the second social activity wave. Social
actions undertaken then had to take into account communist conditions.
For instance, it was not possible to be involved in any political ventures.
In 1954, the residents managed to open a new post office in the village.
Then, in 1956, they voluntarily relinquished parts of their lands in order
to build a new fire brigade station. It was the first example of a voluntary
action which became the basis for voluntary work for the benefit of the
village under communist rule. Voluntary action were also undertaken in
the past – even before the War, the residents managed to pave the main
village road and dig a pool for the firemen. At the end of the 1950s, the
church protective committee was extremely active. In 1955, it raised funds
from the province relics conservator to renovate the roof of this unique
building. After that, the residents were trying to create a Rodaki parish,
which finally happened in 1958. Then they built a cemetery, a parsonage,
and a new church. Again, the inhabitants relinquished their property rights
in order to give up land for the construction. The construction works
began in 1959. From 1968 to 1971, the people disassembled the ruined
Community House themselves in which the old school was located.
A new school was built subsequently. By then, it had become a beautiful
tradition for people to give away parts of their own land in favour of a
collective investment – they did it this time again. Right after children
started attending their new school there was another huge investment in
the village – the construction of a new parish church (1972–1976).
At the turn of the 1980s, the region was relatively prosperous.
Large factories located near the village needed workers. Mornings and
afternoons, buses would take village inhabitants to work in factories
and steelworks. People were becoming rich and were able to build new,
nice houses. The infrastructure was growing: the sewage and telephone
systems and the gas network (since 1991). These investments, however,
were quite different than the ones described before: they were executed
because of government decisions.
It was only at the end of the 20th century that the third social activity
wave began – full of grass-roots’ initiatives and civic actions which
resulted in building Rodaki’s internal institutional network. The third
wave constitutes the core of our analysis.
This brief overview of Rodaki collective actions shows that
throughout history there were periods of intensive change and dynamic
113
progress followed by periods of stagnation. The village development
processes are also strictly related to the changing characteristics of the
local community and social relations. There is no doubt that Rodaki
residents have always had strong community identification and such
a tradition is still alive.
It is the levels of social engagement that have been changing. The
first and second wave of village leaders were social activists for whom
the wealth of the village as a whole was more important than their own.
Their actions were reflexive and spontaneous, undertaken as an answer
to shortages and needs. Some village inhabitants possess this kind of
motivation even today. The third social activity wave in Rodaki saw
the birth of new processes causing the community to experience a real
breakthrough. The instincts are more institutionalised now – the organic
will has been completed with rational one11. There are new organisations
in the village, which have canalised social activities and set new trends.
In the past, the residents would react to any problems appearing daily in
their lives, trying to organise the community life. At present, the village
development is more regular and purposeful, showing residents how to
continue their social actions. This fundamental change has resulted in the
establishment of formal institutions responsible for specific activities and
forming a peculiar social network.
The Rodaki Internal Institutional Network
A small village community has managed to create an exceptionally
rich internal institutional network acting for the benefit of local
development. The network includes: the public sector represented by the
village council, formalised non-governmental sector (the Voluntary Fire
Brigade and the “Rodaki Jurajska Village” Association), and less formal
institutions such as: the Village Women’s Society, the “Swojacy” cabaret,
and circles linked to the primary school.
Village Council – extremely active at the end of the 1990s, when
Ms. Walentyna Kardynał was elected the council chairperson and
Ms. Halina Ładoń became first a community council member and
shortly after the village development animator. The Village Council
changed its role from that of council chairperson’s advisory body to an
executive organ. The community capacity could now be used to boost
some concrete actions aimed at the village’s development, such as
11
Difference according to the F. Toennies’s classic typology.
114
building parking lots and sidewalks in front of the church, cleaning up,
and organising holiday events12. These days, the council role seems to be
becoming less significant in regard to these activities, as certain parts of
its responsibilities are being naturally taken over by the “Rodaki Jurajska
Village” Association. Recently, the Village Council efforts, related to
Rodaki development, have been truly recognised and awarded several
distinctions.
“Rodaki Jurajska Village” Association – called into being as
a result of the Klucze commune council resolution passed in order to
close the Rodaki primary school. The association was established ad hoc
so that it could take over from the commune responsibility for running
the school. The body organised a huge campaign as a result of which
the controversial commune council decision was delayed. Presently the
association coordinates after school education and organises cultural
events. It is also involved in ecology and sports. It plays an important role
in establishing good relations among the village residents13.
Primary school – its beginnings date back to early days of Poland’s
independence after 191814. At first, children would attend classes in
private flats, then in the Community House. After the Second World
War, the residents built a new school building, even though they did not
have the communist authorities’ permission15. It was a voluntary action
engagement, and they used their own land and materials. During the
1990s – for demographic and economic reasons – there was a threat that
the school would be closed. But it only increased the school activity.
It became another local initiative centre, including many projects.
The school has a certificate issued by the Ecologic Activity Local Centre,
and it is the main venue for the European Ecologic Club. A project called
“Creativity” turned out to be a tremendous success. The Rodaki girls’
team was one of the laureates of the National Creativity Competition.
12
Periodic events organised in the village, such as: “Bread Day”, “Green Goose
Adventure”, the “Goose in the Culture, Goose on the Table, Goose in the Environment”
conference, providing integration functions to Rodakians.
13
See: www.jurajskawioskarodaki.prv.pl/onas.
14
Poland regained independence after the First World War, on the basis of the Treaty
of Versailles.
15
The new school building was constructed somewhat deceitfully. For a long time,
the residents were not able to obtain the necessary building permits, so they decided to
build an additional floor in the new headmaster’s flat. The official construction assessment
stated that the renovated building would be too dangerous to live in. Faced with this new
fact, the authorities were forced to issue a permit allowing residents to build a new school.
115
The same team took part in the international finals of this competition,
organised in USA, taking the 22nd position.
Voluntary Fire Brigade – called into being after the fire of 1928,
which had destroyed most of the village. The Brigade has always been
highly appreciated in the village. On the one hand, the fire brigade
owes a lot to the residents: both the old and the new stations were built
collectively; on the other hand, the village owes a lot to the fire brigade:
The VFB president said: “We are the engine for this village”. It was put
even more forcefully by the fire chief: “Nothing happens here without
us. There is no organisation like ours. Whenever something important is
going on in the village, we gather up 30 men immediately”16.
Village Women’s Society– established in 1957. There are 34 female
members at present, 18 of whom sing in a peasants’ group, called
“Rodakians” (Rodaczanki). The Society propagates peasants’ culture,
maintaining the village traditional ceremonies. Nothing happens in the
village without the Society. The “Rodakians” take care of the artistic side
of the village events. The Society also presents traditional ceremonies,
making handicrafts and preparing regional dishes.
“Swojacy” cabaret – stems from the Village Women’s Society and
the “Rodakians” group. Its members appear during village events. They
also go to other villages and take part in regional reviews, often winning
prizes and distinctions.
Ms. Halina Ładoń, working both as a Klucze commune councillor
and an editor at “Echo Klucz”, is the local village development animator.
She is the unifying element.
The local development animator connects individual partnership
members, creating a peculiar planet system revolving around the star.
By no means is it enough, however, to secure the durability and cohesion
of the local partnership network.
It functions properly due to the following factors:
• complementarity – close cooperation among people. One can hardly
imagine a situation in which a village event would not be prepared
by one of the organisations. Rodaki institutions complete one another,
forming a final unity. Each one operates on its own ground, but none
would be complete without the others. One of our respondents used an
interesting metaphor to describe this phenomenon: “our organisations
form a healthy organism in which all the cells are cooperating with
one another. Each cell knows exactly what to do so that the whole
16
Interview with the VFB president.
116
body functions properly, [...] they simply know where they belong [...]
One action leads to another”17.
Figure 1. Scheme of the Rodaki Institutional Network
Source: authors.
•
•
trust – a very important factor rendering it possible for the local
network to function properly and make full use of the abovementioned
complementarity. The village and its surroundings are full of trust:
“Our people tend to trust not only one another, but also outsiders.
The outsiders are quite amazed at the way they are welcomed
and accepted, and with time they become Rodakians and activists
themselves”18.
unofficial relations – the village partnership is not a formalised
structure with clear cut partner selection criteria. People meet
informally – in the village head’s house or in the school director’s
17
18
Interview with the Association president.
Interview with the primary school headmaster.
•
•
•
•
117
office: eating cakes, drinking coffee, or sipping beer. Such relations
are conducive to strengthening bonds, trust, and entrepreneurship.
These relations have been aptly described by one of our respondents
who had compared them with family kinship: “We are so cordial and
warm to one another. We like drinking coffee together, and visiting our
neighbours. We are very open. We often share our views and interests,
we meet a lot to exchange our ideas”19.
collective action traditions – the collective nature is deeply rooted
in Rodaki inhabitants’ minds. It makes people act, places them in the
generation chain, where they become another link of their historical
tradition.
building bridges between generations – projects and initiatives are
constructed in such a way that work is done by children, parents and
grandparents. One of the examples is a project aimed at writing the
Rodaki history – children register stories told by their grandparents20.
The fire chief works closely with the youth21.
transparency of actions – it is a factor greatly increasing trust for
Rodaki initiative initiators, making the success more probable. The
meticulous attention paid to the transparency of actions frequently
causes the originators to spend their own money on executed
ventures. This transparency is also related to Rodakians taking part in
the decision-making processes – new ideas are always consulted with
them. Without transparency, one could hardly imagine the numerous
outside events, such as “Bread Day” or “Green Goose Adventure”.
village development strategy – all actions initiated in Rodaki
are related to the village development strategy. Its foundations
were established at the end of the 1990s. The strategy has been
continuously made more perfect and detailed by various initiatives.
It is like a roadmap for Rodakians. This local community aspect has
19
Interview with the commune councillor who coordinates the village Local
Partnership actions.
20
The project resulted in a publication entitled “Rodaki Memories – Grandparents’
history”, Rodaki 2004.
21
In the Rodaki VFB, there are male and female youth teams. Young people are very
active in the fire brigade actions. During commune championships, the Rodaki VFB had
three teams, whereas the other commune villages had problems with setting up even one
team (according to our respondents).
118
been referred to in literature as one of the basic conditions for creating
the local community capacity22.
• project oriented approach – crucial to meet the community needs
and solve problems. The councillor and the school master are
specialists in this field. They say themselves that their abilities and
habits regarding projects are one of the main reasons for Rodaki’s
success.
The Rodaki Local Partnership success is definitely related to the fact
that actions undertaken by all the organisations are based on common
norms and values out of which the reciprocation norm seems to be the
most important one. It is quite general in its character – it is not just
about goods and services exchange, it is something much deeper: a
general reciprocation norm described in detail by Robert Putnam23.
This is how trust is created and reinforced, and cooperation made all the
more available and plausible.
External Contact Network
The Rodakians have managed to construct a rich, external contact
network. There are two sources of finding the partners. The first derives
experiences from Rodaki leaders’ backgrounds. In the past, many
Rodakians would leave their village for a long time, and come back much
later with new knowledge (for instance, the “Rodaki Jurajska Village”
Association president).
There were others who would take up jobs in surrounding towns,
and now they can use their experiences for the benefit of the village (for
instance: the councillor and the school headmaster) Finally, there are
people who came from the outside and brought in some new capacity
(for instance: the present school headmaster’s father, who was the school
director himself for quite many years, or the present village head).
The second source of finding external partners is active looking for
them (securing grants, inviting celebrities to village events, meetings,
training courses, outside conferences) and making sure that the existing
contacts thrive (invitations to important Rodaki events). This section will
be limited to giving only one example: the cooperation with Ms. Kira
Gałczyńska, the famous poet’s daughter. The invitation sent by Rodaki
22
R.J. Chaskin, P. Brown, S. Ventatesh, A. Vidal, Building Community Capacity,
Aldine de Gruyter, New York 2001.
23
R. D. Putnam, Demokracja w działaniu, Znak, Kraków 1995, s. 267.
119
to her shows how the acquired external capital can influence the village
functions:
• confirmation function – the members feel proud of their actions,
they receive feedback confirming that what they are trying to do
makes a lot of sense, and that their actions can be appreciated by
famous people;
• mobilisation function – acquired partners become careful observers
and reviewers who cannot be let down. They motivate the residents to
work even more intensely;
• promotional function – Kira Gałczyńska’s visit to Rodaki was
related to celebrations of Gałczyński’s Year in Poland. It secured
a permanent place for Rodaki on the cultural map of our country and
aroused a lot of media interest;
• economic function – choosing Kira Gałczyńska to be a patron of
the “Green Goose in the Land of White Fluff” project resulted in the
successful acquisition of new sponsors and funds for the village;
• security function – external contacts, particularly patrons respected
by the general public, raise the feeling of local community security.
The residents know that – should it come to a situation similar to the
school closing threat – they can count on their ‘patrons’ to help them
protect the things they cherish.
There is also a third source of external contact acquisition, which does
not require the local community to make a lot of effort. It is the mass
media, such as the Internet. The mass media allow outsiders to find a lot
of information on Rodaki. We definitely did.
2. Human Capital Power: Local Leadership
The high level of human capital (residents’ practical knowledge and
abilities) lets the village develop its capacity, and reinforce the social
capital. The local leadership character is of crucial importance here.
Rodaki is characterised by a special leadership type. On the one hand,
it is clearly visible that the village initiatives are managed collectively,
which is related to the existence of numerous social organisations. On the
other hand, it would be hard not to realise that one person is the engine
for the whole community. This person plays different roles in the village
(being a member of every organisation), coordinating and animating
the partnership activities. We are talking about the Klucze commune
councillor, the originator and manager of the “Green Goose” project.
120
Each Rodaki organisation has its own prestige, reinforced by
common, harmonised actions. Therefore, these organisations are trusted
both by the local community, and by the numerous external institutions
with which they cooperate. Most organisation leaders come from families
in which collective work has always been a tradition. The Councillor’s
family traditions: her grandfather was one of the VFB initiators in 1928.
Before the Second World War, when there was no school, he would teach
privately at home. The councillor’s father was known to all Rodakians –
a fervent village chronicler, and a talented actor. His artistic performances
in the village were a stimulus to create the cabaret later. Her mother
established and managed the Village Women’s Society, propagating
various courses for women. We could give many more examples of the
social activity inheritance.
These family traditions help build the prestige. But it also comes from
other sources. You do not have to have a family history related to Rodaki
to become an important village person and act for its benefit. If you are
personally involved in solving the village problems, and supporting the
regional development, you will be perceived as one of the village leaders.
For example, the chairwoman of the village council came to Rodaki in
the 1970s. The present school headmaster’s father came to the village to
be employed as a local teacher, and he quickly became one of the village
change initiators. The “Rodaki Jurajska Village” Association president
left the village for several years, and now she heads the organisation.
For Rodakians, it is very important to build bridges between
generations. It is clearly seen in the character of executed projects which
are always planned in such a way that each generation can participate in
the works.
The scope of work is fairly divided. The chairwoman of the village
council and the councillor coordinate and manage the village initiatives.
For the last ten years, these two women have been the most important
commune leaders. The councillor writes projects, and the chairwoman is
responsible for coordinating works in the village. This peculiar board of
directors often meets in the school teachers’ room, which is also a place
for various village meetings and events when they do not take place
outdoors. Particular organisations’ actions complement one other.
The character of mutual relations can even be observed in the
language used by our respondents: “we are inseparable; and this
symbiosis has been going on for ages”24. This language reflects the
24
Interview with the commune councillor.
121
atmosphere of partners’ meetings, described as combining the nice with
the useful – spending free time with friends while discussing important
village issues: “We have phones, so whenever something needs to
be done, we call each other. I am always on the run, riding my bike.
The village head and I take care of all the problems, we drink coffee
together, invite each other to our houses. We meet very often in different
places and think what else we can do for the village”25.
When characterising collective leadership in Rodaki, we must not
forget about the subject present in every conversation with the residents:
“one man or two people won’t be able to do anything. It must be
a group”26. It sounds like a Rodaki credo. The inhabitants tend to agree
with one another, and they are willing to cooperate, forming a cohesive
group open to new ideas: “I think we are quite active, and it is thanks
to all our people, as we need to act in various spheres. People do want
to change stuff. Our residents want to spend time with one another, and
it is the main source of our success. It is not enough for them to sit in
their houses all the time. They want to sing and practice together. One
thing leads to another. The younger ones also want to participate in
everything”27.
Collectivity is the basis for making decisions. In the village there
are a lot of debates, group negotiations, and people will always look for
a consensus: “Anybody wanting to push something forward must be sure
they themselves want to do it. They usually are, as most of the initiatives
do not come from nowhere, but are well thought of. Everybody knows
what they want to achieve, and should be prepared to convince the
others”28. Our respondents often say that collective actions are caused by
inner needs.
The councillor plays a special role in this partnership. She acts like
an intermediary between particular organisations, supporting the Rodaki
local development. Let us reiterate that she is a person involved in the
actions of each organisation – as a normal member, a member of the
board, a secretary, or a founder, not necessarily a head. Her position in the
village is extremely strong. All the organisations want her to have some
25
Ibid.
Interview with the chairwoman of the “Rodakians” group and the Village Women’s
Society.
27
28
Interview with the primary school headmaster.
26
122
function within their structures. She is also authorised to represent Rodaki
outside.
There are a few sources of her prestige: First of all, the councillor
comes from the family of rich social activity traditions. Secondly, her
exceptional position in the village results from specific features of her
character and principles by which she acts in her social undertakings.
She is an exemplary self-investment oriented animator/leader who is
increasing her qualifications and abilities. She takes part in various
training courses which she uses not only to acquire new knowledge,
but also to establish new contacts that can be beneficial for the village
development. These relations are very important for the councillor. She
always does her best to participate in ventures and events to which she
is invited. She is capable of transferring the acquired knowledge to other
people involved in the village development, translating it to the language
easily understood by all the residents. Her relations with the other village
leaders are also excellent. She is in constant touch with them, their
cooperation being perfect. Were it not for this cooperation, her position
would definitely be weaker.
The councillor is also able to soothe conflicts and support new
initiatives. Thanks to her charisma and laboriousness, she can push the
residents to working for the common good, regardless if they concern
organising an outdoor event, building a new sidewalk, or receiving
financial support. She makes sure nobody is omitted in the task allocation
of new initiatives. She knows how to show gratitude and respect for
people’s efforts. She does everything she can so that all the actions are
transparent. It creates a great deal of trust everywhere. For instance:
all the village residents are invited, once a year to the village council
meeting.
They can listen to the summary of annual undertakings of individual
village organisations and see how the projects have been executed and
financially settled.
The councillor’s involvement style is closer to social animation than
pure leadership. Animators are intermediaries between residents and
organisations, between the village and the outside world. Therefore,
not only does the councillor create relations and networks, but also
she connects them. It is important to maintain these contacts, reinforce
the residents’ social engagement, and inform them about planned and
executed ventures, as well as to convince them to participate in the works.
123
3. Limitations: Cooperation with Private
and Public Sectors
A serious threat to the Rodaki internal network development is the
fact that, practically, there are no private sector partners. There is no
support coming from small, local businesses. There are, in fact, very few
people who run their own companies. There is hardly any local business
in the village: “If you want to do something, you must have some money.
In other villages, more people run their own, little companies, and they
are ready to give away some money. Our people are not very keen on
doing that. There are 2, 3 people who will give something, and that’s it”29.
What would be needed in Rodaki is also the support offered by larger
companies willing to participate in the local activities. In the past, there
were some large factories (national then) which would patronise some of
the village initiatives – for instance: “Wiek” (age), a cement plant from
Ogrodzieniec. First, it partly sponsored the building of the Rodaki primary
school, and then it was financially supporting it. Today such cooperation
is not possible. In order to give money, large private capital must have
perspectives of real, concrete income. The local community actions, run
on a micro scale, do not attract private capital.
Local business will be interested only if local projects, such as “Green
Goose in the Land of White Fluff”, will cross the village borders and
reach beyond the local environment – at least into the commune or the
whole province: “It would be nice if there was somebody with an idea,
initiative and money, who would deal with purchasing and processing
meat, who would make visitors come to Rodaki for a nice meal of goose
[local speciality]. It was the aim of our actions. Maybe, some day, we will
be successful. If we had a larger group of breeders, they could definitely
do a lot. There was this Japanese guy [during a conference on “Green
Goose] who said he would buy any amount of feathers for processing.
He was a quilt and pillow producer, interested in Polish feathers.
He was addressing the breeders, saying he would buy any amount. But he
needed a lot of this stuff. He wanted his trucks to be packed immediately
when he’d sent them over. We don’t have too many farms, and people
breed geese mainly for their own needs, giving leftovers away to their
neighbours”30.
29
30
Interview with Rodaki village head.
124
Another obstacle on the way to Rodaki local development is the lack
of communal support. Theoretically, the interests of the village and local
authorities are the same, but the deadlock seems to be huge and extremely
difficult to eliminate. The internal relations network may be functioning
well inside the village, but it is not working at all when it comes to
external relations with the commune. The factors, mentioned earlier,
connecting several institutions, such as complementarity, trust, unofficial
character of relations, cooperation traditions, or transparency of actions
have been replaced by contradictory factors:
• lack of trust – it is the main problem and the reason why there is
no cooperation. Unfortunately, the village council’s decision to
close the primary school in Rodaki, or the ruined fire brigade
station reconstruction manoeuvres have caused the commune to
lose credibility in the eyes of higher authorities. Nobody trusts the
commune anymore, and it will be very difficult for the new local
management to rebuild the village reliability: “The firemen won’t
return (give the building to the commune) the station, as they are
afraid it will be taken away from them. [...] We have had this situation
for many years now. There is a lack of trust between us and the
commune. If you get disappointed one time, it’s hard to regain the
trust”31.
• lack of proper communication – bad atmosphere and conflict
situations cause obstacles in the information flow. Defective
information policy of the commune causes its actions to be perceived
as directed against the village. The residents feel discriminated
against: “We don’t get pampered by the commune. There are not any
sidewalks for us, except for the ones in front of the church and school,
which we built ourselves, anyway [...]. We own everything here.
We’ve done it on our own. Our parents and grandparents would never
be given anything, and so we feel sorry that there was a moment
when the government wanted to take stuff away from us”32. Thus,
the commune is perceived as a government that takes things away
instead of providing them.
• blocked actions and initiatives – Rodaki frequently depends on
the communal decisions. The sponsors are quite reluctant to support
investments that should be paid for by the local government. And if
they are ready to give some money, they expect the local community
31
32
Ibid.
Ibid.
•
•
125
to participate with their own funds, too. Their own funds can only be
granted by the commune. The fact that Rodaki cannot cooperate with
the commune results in some projects not being realised and sponsors’
money being wasted. The Klucze commune head often complains that
she learns about Rodaki initiatives too late: “We spend lots of money.
It’s kind of difficult to deal with associations like Rodaki, as they write
their own projects [...], and then come to the commune, when they
have to pay 20% from their own funds”33.
lack of unofficial contacts – personal relations are crucially important
in small communities. They make it easier to find a job, create a
climate of cooperation, build trust, and enable communication via
official channels. The contacts between commune management and
Rodaki leaders are limited to the level which reduces the chances for
local development. Both groups do meet with one another, but usually
during larger official events organised in Rodaki. The commune
representatives are there because it is their duty, with interpersonal
contacts being limited to official courtesies.
lack of common strategy – Rodaki projects are not included in
the Klucze commune development strategy. Rodakians have been
trying to encourage commune authorities to become interested in
their local economic activity. They have tried to discuss their issues
during commune council meetings to no avail. Local authorities keep
refusing to base parts of their strategy on the village ideas. There are
only some obscure plans according to which the commune social
welfare centre should finance the establishment of a goose breeding
social cooperative.
4. Local Economic Initiative
– “Green Goose in the Land of White Fluff”
The economic initiative, set up in Rodaki in 2002, results from
Halina Ładoń’s efforts to improve the residents’ material situation and
to activate the local community. The “Green Goose in the Land of White
Fluff” project, submitted by the village council, has been co-financed
by the Rural Development Foundation (Fundacja Wspomagania
Wsi) within the framework of the “Our Remedy for Rural Poverty”
programme.
33
Interview with the Klucze commune head.
126
The initial part of the project execution focused on purchasing 240
goose nestlings and distributing them (free of charge) among the poorest
residents. Detailed calculations on potential breeders’ income (from
selling meat and feathers) were prepared. A goose breeding cycle lasts
5 months. At first, small nestlings are fed with special fodder or oat. Later,
they eat grass form meadows and pastures surrounding Rodaki. Out of
10 geese, a breeder can obtain 3 kg of feathers, and meat. According to
preliminary calculations, a breeder can sell the feathers for PLN 200
per kilogram, which should allow him/her to buy, for instance, 2 tons
of coal. Bred geese are slaughtered in the autumn. The carcass (in 2006,
it was registered as a certified regional product) and feathers can then be
obtained. During the season, geese are plucked three times. A well-bred
goose may weigh up to 7-8 kilograms. The project calculation has been
prepared in the following way34:
Benefits
Meat
Feathers
Total
Costs
Fodder
Oat
Total
1,220 goose nestlings were bought over the period of 4 years.
Assuming that out of 10 geese 60 kg of meat can be produced,
the residents acquired 7320 kg of meat (PLN 12 per 1 kg)
PLN 87,840 zł
1,220 goose nestlings were bought. Out of 10 nestlings, there
is 4 kg of torn feathers (PLn 200 per 1 kg)
PLN 97,200
PLN 185,440
The amount has to be reduced by fodder costs during the initial
feeding period, and oat costs for adult geese. These costs are
incurred by breeders.
one-off expense during first days for 10 geese – PLN 12
To feed 10 geese, one needs 100 kg for the whole breeding season
(5 months) - PLN 35
One must be prepared to pay approximately PLN 60 as all
the costs, including possible medications.
One adult goose pays for the whole flock of 10 geese.
This initiative combines material support and cultural-ecological
elements. A Rodaki goose comes from the Zatorska breed. It is a protected
species. The project is also supposed to protect the region’s meadows
and pastures against impoverishment. These areas need to be regularly
fertilised and kept in their natural conditions. The cultural element of the
project was related to the local tradition. Undertaken actions were aimed
34
On the basis of Rodaki source materials – 2003.
127
at reviving forgotten ceremonies and goose-and-feathers customs which,
in the past, had integrated Rodaki inhabitants. Even throughout the 1950s,
geese were frequently bred on farms. They disappeared from the village
after the residents quit their agricultural occupation.
“Green Goose” turned out to be a catchy slogan which made the
village famous and attracted a lot of people and institutions. It was
possible to create other projects based on the “Green Goose” slogan.
This enabled the continuous inflow of goose nestlings (every year the
residents were given new ones). In this way Rodaki became a thematic
village. Many goose-related projects have been initiated since 2003.
As we have already mentioned, 2003 was announced to be Konstanty
Ildefons Gałczyński’s year. This poet is the author of the famous play
entitled “Green Goose”. There was a party organised under the “Green
Goose” banner, and Gałczyński’s daughter – Kira – was contacted.
The contact was fruitful: Ms. Gałczyńska supported the village in
many difficult initiatives. The village acquired funds for other projects:
the reconstruction of the historic 16th-century church bell tower; the
publication of a book containing memories of the village elderly. Children
were producing handmade paper from scrap materials in after school
classes. The paper had a “Green Goose” logo. The village published
a postcard promoting its “Green Goose in the Land of White Fluff”.
In 2006, it held a conference entitled “A Goose on the Table, in Literature,
and the Environment”.
The “Green Goose” theme gained prominence in Poland and abroad.
In 2003, the project was awarded the second prize in a UNDP competition
– “Poverty vs. Environment – Mutual Connotations”. It was the only
one of 150 projects form Małopolska region sent to the competition.
“Green Goose” was estimated as a “model, practical solution combining
fight against poverty with environment protection”35. A lot of journalists
visited the village. Polish TV (TVP 1) broadcasted a report on Rodaki,
and even German newspapers touched upon the topic. In 2004, “Green
Goose” delighted jurors of the “European Village Renewal Prize 2004”
competition – first on the province level and later on the European level.
In 2004, the project was highly valued by jurors of the “Polish Heritage
Award” as a precious countryside initiative related to heritage, cultural,
and environmental protection.
This is how the jury justified its decision: “In Rodaki, a group of
enthusiastically minded people managed to spur all the village residents
35
See: www.jurajskawioskarodaki.prv.pl/konkursy.
128
to creative actions and new initiatives. Having magnificent projects at
their disposal, Rodakians are learning to take a grip on fate and control
their difficult material situation. They are on the right track now. They are
bound for long-term and comprehensive development”36.
The “Green Goose” project has become a breakthrough moment in
the history of the village. Thanks to a good idea, established external
contacts, and numerous distinctions, the project has become a symbol of
Rodaki activity. Today it is perceived as a model to follow in regard to
ecology, culture, entrepreneurship, and local development. A huge energy
shot, received by Rodaki due to the project “side effects” – promotion,
interest of many institutions and the media – has changed the way people
think and feel about their future. Village leaders have begun building the
new Rodaki image – making use of the “Green Goose” accomplishments.
They are trying to continue goose breeding in the village, even though
the interest seems to be fading: “Someone might say that we are trying
to push things. We don’t want it to be lost. There are fewer and fewer
breeders. Still, we want to have a few geese around, as it is the symbol of
our success”37.
The “Green Goose” project shows the strength of its social
embeddedness. Like all of the other historical ventures undertaken in
Rodaki, this project was initiated at the bottom, with a big involvement
of residents, as an answer to real needs. What proves how much the
initiative has been embedded socially? First of all, “Green Goose” is an
idea showing how to help poor village residents and spur them to action
and entrepreneurship. Second of all, the recipients of produced goods
– feathers, meat, integration actions – are the inhabitants of surrounding
villages. Therefore, the products are reaching the local market. Thirdly,
all the village institutions are involved in the project, each one being
responsible for certain aspects of the venture. While new ideas were being
realised, a new division of work was established. All the institutions and
individuals in Rodaki know what they should be doing. The residents feel
important, needed, and respected, seeing themselves as part of a larger
whole. It should be remembered that all the new ventures are consulted
with the villagers.
Project decision consultations are not the only activities characterised
by embeddedness. The same characteristic feature can be applied to
actions aimed at evoking interest in the villagers and encouraging them to
36
37
Competition jury information – www.rodaki.pl.
Interview with the village councillor.
129
be involved in other initiatives, organised by the leaders. The residents are
informed about every activity individually and during various meetings.
It happens that villagers are convinced by less conventional methods –
for instance by sticking pieces of paper to their fences in case they are
not home when one of the leaders is visiting the houses. There was even
a scientific conference, organised in Rodaki, during which the villagers
were convinced by biotechnologists of the economic-social benefits of the
“Green Goose” initiative.
The project “Green Goose” is based on social embeddedness –
the renewal of the custom of ‘plucking’. It is mainly when women meet
to pluck the feathers of the goose. Not only do they help each other,
but they also spend time together. Rodaki was an example for other
commune villages which also started to undertake actions aimed at the
local development, supported additionally by the Klucze commune
head. Various initiatives regarding the integration of village generations
are also deeply socially embedded. Rodakians know how to combine
the traditions of the past with the present. Different generations are
involved in executing interesting projects. It is possible for the elderly
to pass their knowledge to the youth, which integrates the inhabitants
even more.
The social dimension of the “Green Goose” roots is more important
than the economic one. The project is not financially beneficial in
real terms. It just allows households to have a bit more money. There
are fewer and fewer breeders. In 2007, there were only 150 geese on
10 Rodaki farms. The scale of this venture is too small to arouse a real
local economic exchange. Rodaki geese breeders are usually older
people who are afraid to risk taking loans. This initiative could be truly
developed only in terms of scale effect. The village would need serious
support either from local businesses (which it does not receive), or
from the commune. Willing to use the capacity and fame brought to the
commune by the “Green Goose” initiative, the Klucze based Commune
Social Welfare Centre is planning to set up a goose breeding social
cooperative. It seems that only such an external intervention could cause
the analysed project to result in serious financial benefits, to attract
investors, and buyers of meat and feathers. The Małopolska local product
– the Zatorska goose carcass – is more of a Rodaki showcase, popular
during local entrepreneurship markets, than a real source of income for
the village.
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5. Development Perspectives Valuation
All the villagers in Rodaki know where they should be headed.
The development of their community should be based on the famous
trademark – the “Green Goose”. Nobody really hopes there will be more
goose breeders in the future. It is all about using the symbol: “We don’t
want to waste the thing thanks to which Rodaki has been advertised.
It must go in some wise direction”38. The villagers have some ideas
what to do in the future and how to use properly the social capital of
the village. Rodaki should become a thematic countryside based on the
“Green Goose”. The symbolism of the famous project still gives a lot
of opportunities. Another idea is to create an ecological museum – an
outdoor educational centre which could be visited by students and tourists.
It is a positive and optimistic sign that a lot of young people seem to be
interested in the continuation of the project and initiating other actions on
its basis, which creates a chance for a long-term local development.
Rodaki is a powerful village characterised by community capacity
and a long tradition of civic actions. Its residents have lived through
difficult times, which has reinforced their unity. This internal strength
will not be enough, however, for the economic initiative (which has made
the village famous) to develop on its own in the future. With no serious
support from the local government, the Rodaki exemplary project has no
chance of surviving in the long run. The villagers and local authorities
need to renew their cooperation, so that they can define together notions
such as “trust”, and “cooperation”. It is a great opportunity for the whole
commune to reinforce its capacity.
38
Sewing the World for Children –
1
The “Old School” Social Cooperative in Prostki
1. Foundation of the Social Cooperative in Prostki
In the following article, we will discuss the founding and subsequent
activity of a social cooperative in the village of Prostki near the town
of Ełk in the Voivodeship of Warmia and Mazuria in the northeastern
region of Poland. The social cooperative, the Vocational Training
Centre “Old School” Social Cooperative (in this text we will use the
short version of the name “Old School”), was established in 2007 as
part of the project entitled “Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy
– Building a New Lisków”, which was funded through the EQUAL
Initiative2.
1
The article is an English version of the paper published in Polish as: K. Hernik,
P. Sobiesiak, Uszyjemy świat dla dzieci – spółdzielnia “Stara Szkoła” w Prostkach, in:
T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), W poszukiwaniu strategii pobudzania oddolnego rozwoju wiejskich
społeczności, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008, pp. 99-118 (Editors’ note).
2
The project was established by a partnership between the Institute of Public Affairs
(the publisher of this publication), the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy
in Poland, and the Working Community of Associations of Social Organisations –
WRZOS; 39 other institutions and organisations joined the project and formed four local
partnerships. One of these was the local partnership in Ełk, which included: the District
Starosty in Ełk, the District Roads Authority in Ełk, the Poviat Labour Office in Ełk, the
District Centre of Family Support in Ełk, the Prostki Commune Office, the Elk Commune
Office, the Association of Friends of the Disabled “Przystań”, Union of the Associations
for the Support of the Disabled – “Pomost”, the Common Heritage Social and Cultural
Society, and the Ełk Chamber of Commercial – Ełk Economic Forum.
132
The following article is based on the results of a study that
was completed during the abovementioned project3 and in which
we participated. The study was carried out in local communities where
social enterprises were created; among them was the village of Prostki4.
It was completed in three phases, which allowed us to capture the process
of establishing an enterprise and the resulting changes in the community.
The case study of Prostki was documented through 25 interviews with
people5 who were involved in the founding and functioning of the “Old
School”. Documents related to the creation of the enterprise, including
the business plan and mission statement (cited below in the table),
were a valuable source of information for the study. We present the
“Old School” as an institution that is “embedded in the local community”,
emerging from the community and orienting its activity for the good of
the community. We view local embeddedness as an important aspect of
social enterprises. We also devote considerable attention to the mission
of the social cooperative, which is focused on social reintegration of
marginalised persons and we thus analyse the changes taking place within
the cooperative members after having taken on paid employment.
The village of Prostki, where the Old School” is located, has
a population of 2 500 and lies several kilometres from the town of
Ełk. Formally, it is a village, but its residents consider it to be a small
town. Prostki was previously a state collective farm6, and thus it is
impoverished and has few residents with higher education. Between
2005 and 2007, a large part of the youth emigrated to work in Western
European countries. At the time that the project was beginning several
family enterprises were functioning in the village. From the accounts
of interviewees and especially the community development worker, it
seems that the residents were not inclined to work together. “There are
3
The research team worked independently of the administrative team of the project.
The opinions and conclusions contained in this document are the authors’ and are not an
official statement of the project administrator.
4
A total of seven social enterprises were created during the project in four Poviats
in the Eastern part of Poland.
5
The quotations from the interviews appear in the text in italics and the official
position of individual respondents is noted. In accordance with the code of conduct for
field research, the interviews are not cited by the name of the respondent because the
respondents did not authorise release of their names. The cited responses were slightly
altered by the editors for the purposes of this publication before they were translated into
English (Editor’s note).
6
State Collective Farms (PGR – Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne) were modelled
after Soviet state-owned farming cooperatives (editor’s note).
Sewing the World for Children – The “Old School”...
133
little groups; each one has his own world”, was the description of the
president of the “Old School” cooperative. People were hostile toward
each other, did not know each other or meet and spend time together.
Residents did not participate in the community life of the village and
were rather passive receivers of the activities organised by the local
government administration.
It was in this context that in 2005 the possibility to found a social
cooperative in Prostki arose. This opportunity became real and concrete in
2006 when the Local Partnership in Ełk, including the local government
administration of Prostki, recruited unemployed people, twelve of whom
were to be employed in the social enterprise that was being created in the
village.
The “Old School” was formally registered in January 2007, though
it began its activities in October 2007. The cooperative provides goods
and services through a tailoring-shoemaking workshop and an education
workshop. Activities run in the education workshop include renting space
for events both to local residents and for commercial use by external clients
(e.g. employee integration and training workshops organised by businesses).
The social cooperative is also planning to open up a memorial hall and
a rehabilitation workshop. The cooperative will supplement its activities
and its sources of income by renting rooms to tourists in the attic of the
cooperative office, which is currently being renovated for this purpose7.
However, the tailoring workshop is of key significance to the cooperative,
and thus we will focus on this element of the cooperative’s activities in the
following article. The tailoring workshop produces large format educational
toys for children between the ages of three and six and offers tailoring
services for the residents of Prostki.
The “Old School” is a social enterprise that is focused on the
professional and social reintegration of people who are marginalised on
the labour market. In 2003 when The Act on Social Employment came
into life8 over 100 social employment institutions were created. The
members and later the employees of the “Old School” are people who
were long-term unemployed. Polish law stipulates that at least 80% of the
employees of social cooperatives must be people who need support with
7
If this idea is realised, the cooperative will fill in a gap on the local labour market
because there is no hotel or motel in Prostki.
8
The Act on Social Employment (introduced on the 13th of June 2003) allowed
for the creation of social cooperatives based on the model of Italian Type B social
cooperatives (Editor’s note).
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social and professional reintegration (see the box below). In February
2008, the cooperative employed 11 people (including the president and
the professional tailoring trainer – they were the only employees of
the cooperative who did not have an unemployment status). Ten of the
cooperative’s employees are women. The Executive Board comprises
three persons: the president of the board, the accountant, and one
employee of the cooperative.
The cooperative is located in the building of an old elementary
school9, which was the inspiration for the name of the enterprise: “Old
School” is meant to have positive connotations (and it seems that it
does) such as “old” which means “solid/reliable”, producing high quality
products, and it is meant to convey that the cooperative is “ours”.
Social Cooperatives
Social cooperatives are regulated by the Act on Social Cooperatives (introduced
on the 27th of April 2006) and the Act on Social Employment (2003). The Act
defines how to establish a cooperative, manage its activities and collaborate
with other institutions as well as how to close down a social cooperative.
A social cooperative is a special kind of workers’ cooperative that is based on
the principle that its members mutually provide employment services for each
other. It is an association of people who have partial ownership of the enterprise;
the members have the right to decide about the direction of development of the
enterprise. The cooperative is managed democratically based on the principle:
“one person, one vote”.
The social cooperative functions for the:
• Social reintegration of its members, which includes activities aiming to
rebuild and maintain the skills needed to participate in the local community
and to fulfill social roles at work and at home;
• Professional reintegration of its members, including activities designed
to rebuild and maintain the individual capacity to function on the labour
market.
9
This location of the cooperative created many problems. The school building is
over 1300 m2 in size. The costs of maintaining such a large space were too high for the
cooperative. Although it used less than half of the building (the remaining part of the
building was being renovated), it was required to pay the maintenance costs of the entire
building. In January 2008, the cooperative became the manager of the building. The local
government administration became the distributor of the locale and agreed to take over
some of the costs of maintenance. Thus, the local government is currently responsible for
guaranteeing the heating of the building and the cooperative pays proportionally for the
costs of the space that it uses. This is the optimal solution to what was the largest problem
for the cooperative and great cause of concern in terms of the cooperative’s ability
to survive on the market.
135
Besides its business activity, the social cooperative can engage in social
activity and cultural-educational activity to benefit its members and the local
community. It can also carry out socially beneficial activities as defined in the
Public Benefit and Volunteer Work Act (introduced on the 24th of April 2003).
This means that social cooperatives can submit offers for contracts to deliver
public services in the same way that non-governmental organisations can
(according to the abovementioned act strictly private sector institutions do not
qualify to carry out such work). The social cooperative is thus an institution that
links characteristics of an enterprise and a non-governmental organisation.
The “Old School” cooperative was founded and is able to carry out its
activity thanks to the involvement of many people and institutions, which
can be considered “significant others”10. They greatly influence the shape
and activity of the cooperative. Leaders of other membership organisations
and institutions in the Ełk Local Partnership were “significant others”.
It should be mentioned that the role of the partnership changed with time.
The period when the Partnership was most visibly active was above all
during the beginning phase of the project11 – it was then that the local
partners were the most engaged in the cooperative’s work. During the
project, the Partnership played an important supportive role for the
cooperative, first by defining the mission statement and the type of
activity that the enterprise would engage in, as well as its legal status
and employment capacity. The partnership also helped by recruiting
the unemployed people who would work in the enterprise, organising
trainings and study visits for them, and finally by holding the cooperative
accountable for its activities both in terms of its finances and the quality
of its social activity. As it turned out, however, the local partners were not
able to help the cooperative employees take on the role of cooperative
shareholders, or co-owners of the enterprise. An external advisor to the
Local Partnership in Ełk took on this task.
10
We refer here to the sociological category of “significant other” as defined by P.
Berger, N. Luckmann, in P. Berger., T. Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality:
A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Anchor Books, Garden City, NY 1966. A large
majority of “significant others” are people who, in social economy terms, are called social
enterprise shareholders.
11
The local government elections in 2006 were a decisive moment, which resulted
in the election of the former leader of the local partnership, the starost of the Ełk Poviat,
as the mayor of the town. The project coordinator also left the project to join the new
mayor within the public administration. From that moment, the partnership lacked a clear
leader who would be a link between the different activities that were taking place. In the
later phase of the project, communication with the partnership was maintained through the
cooperative and not directly with the partnership as such.
136
The community development worker, whose responsibility in
the project was to activate the local community and prepare it for the
founding of the social cooperative in Prostki, was also a “significant
other”12. Nevertheless, the community development worker’s activities de
facto exceeded this role. Because he was also employed by the District
Office in Ełk13, the community development worker linked the enterprise
with the Local Partnership. He informed the cooperative members about
the possibilities of submitting applications for grants or about trainings
that “Old School” employees could participate in. Along with the Local
Partnership, the community development worker organised a study visit
for the cooperative members as well as trainings in patchwork sewing.
The lack of a precise definition for the role of the community worker and
a certain lack of understanding about his responsibilities led to a situation
where the Local Partnership considered giving the community worker the
position of president of the “Old School” cooperative14.
Through the community development worker’s informal contacts15,
a consultant arrived to Prostki in the summer of 2007 to advise the
cooperative. The consultant played a mediating role in establishing
contacts between the cooperative and outside partners, advised
on a marketing strategy, and helped integrate and motivate the
cooperative members. The consultant helped outline and implement
a marketing strategy for the cooperative, and searched for contacts, service
providers and potential clients for the cooperative’s products. Through the
consultant’s initiative, the cooperative’s activities, which initially were too
broad and not well suited to the context of the local market, changed and
were strategically reoriented to focus on the production of large format
educational toys16. The consultant also put the cooperative in contact with
12
The responsibilities and type of work of the community development worker are
presented in T. Kaźmierczak’s article entitled “A Model of Community Development
Work with Impoverished Rural Communities” in this publication (Editors’ note).
13
The tasks involved with the project realisation allowed for simultaneous part-time
employment in public administration.
14
It should be noted that the president of the social cooperative does not have to be
a member of the cooperative. In most social cooperatives, the president is hired from
outside of the cooperative by the cooperative manager.
15
The Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland and the Institute of
Public Affairs covered the costs of the consultant’s work with funding from the project.
16
Initially, it was planned that, as an enterprise working in several branches, the
cooperative would offer such services as repairing household appliances, tailoring and
shoe-making, landscaping, as well as souvenir production. This breadth of activities
indicated a lack of knowledge about the local market.
137
a toy designer (a professional artist), who gave the idea for what would
become the standard product of the cooperative: an educational wall
hanging “Four Seasons of the Year”17. The cooperative’s consultant also
prepared key documents for the cooperative and in a large part, prepared
the cooperative members and the management for the specificities of work
in the “Old School”. The consultant thus had many responsibilities in the
cooperative as a mentor and specialist, but also as a friend. It is also
important that the consultant’s presence at the “Old School”18 fostered
a feeling of certainty in the success of the cooperative and reduced the
moments when the cooperative members doubted the purpose of their
work. It was also the consultant who helped the cooperative members
enter the role of employees/co-owners of the enterprise. For the further
functioning of the “Old School” after the completion of the project,
it was important that the consultant did not take on the role of cooperative
manager. Instead, the consultant focused on strengthening the position of
the person who the cooperative members chose as the president for the
longer term19.
The change of the person who functioned as cooperative president
(and the occasional vacancies) during the first phase of the “Old
School’s” work indicated how difficult it was to manage such a body
in which the employees were learning how to work together. There
were many sources of frustration and conflict between the employees,
including a different level of tailoring skills. Some of them were waiting
for work in the rehabilitation workshop. The cooperative members had
great freedom to work autonomously, but when needed, taking decisions
collectively was challenging and anguishing for them. It was often easier
for them to accept and implement decisions taken by the management
than to collectively initiate an activity or a discussion. The cooperative
members expected support and help because they felt insecure in their
new situation of employment, but this also caused differences of opinion
between them and tension in the relations between employees and
management. For example, each cooperative member wanted to take
advantage of the right to decide about the purchase of goods for toy
production; meanwhile, a specific group was selected to be responsible
17
The wall hanging consists of moveable elements representing different seasons of
the year (e.g. leaves, insects, grass, the sun), which are attached to the wall hanging with
buttons and string.
18
Beginning with July 2007, the consultant spent around two weeks a month in
Prostki for the duration of around nine months.
19
The president is not a member of the cooperative.
138
for this task in the name of the cooperative and this led to conflicts. It is
important, however, that the cooperative members felt like they were part
of a collective and mutually supportive of each other: “we are doing this
together from the beginning, there are no bad attitudes dragging behind
us…we’ve created a sort of atmosphere, a sort of structure and way of
thinking, so that things are pretty good. It’s a good situation...we like
going to work”.
Employing an instructor for the tailoring workshop in effect
strengthened the position of the management-level employees in the
cooperative because the instructor became the only person who had real
qualifications as a tailor. The instructor began to direct the organisation
of the work, distinguished specific tasks and structured them into
a logical sequence, and so played the role of an informal brigadier-leader.
As a result, she quickly gained authority among the cooperative members,
which sometimes complicated the relationship between the president and
the employees because the employees perceived the instructor as the real
manager of the cooperative.
A lack of skills among the cooperative members, a sense of insecurity,
fears about the future, but also a lack of a division of labour significantly
influenced the effectiveness of enterprise management in the beginning
phase of its development. The president of the “Old School” remarked
that: “sometimes we come to the girls and ask ‘what’s up?’ and suddenly
there is silence. ‘What do you need?’ we ask; ‘Nothing but a good attitude
and optimism,’ they respond”. In such situations of doubt and resignation,
the cooperative members read aloud the cooperative’s mission, which
they themselves wrote with the support of the consultant. The mission
statement is important in strengthening a sense of community, building
interpersonal links between cooperative members, and creating
a collective identity for the enterprise20. The mission statement outlines
the main goals of the social cooperative; it emphasises the goal of
the professional and social reintegration of cooperative members,
a democratic decision-making process, and institutional autonomy (see
the box below).
20
The mission was read publicly for the first time on the opening day of the
cooperative, after Sunday morning mass during a special ceremony nearby the point
marking the historical frontier between Poland, Lithuania and Prussia.
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The Cooperative’s Mission Statement
The mission of the cooperative is to work for the common good, that is for the
good of the cooperative members, our village, region and nation. We provide
services and produce goods, and engage in trade in accordance with the
highest traditions and with due respect to people’s labour, partners and clients
in order to improve and confirm the positive image of the “Old School”. We are
a free association of people open to new members. We respect the history of the
land that we come from and spread knowledge about it to others. Important
decisions are made in an open and democratic manner. We are proud of our
autonomy and self-governance. By meeting in this place, we promise to build
a bigger and better home founded upon the values of truth, sincerity, pride and
sacrifice. We create the “Old School” and it creates us. We are not indifferent
to poverty, the harm done to humanity, and human weakness. We approach the
problems of the cooperative and its members with whom we work and live with
care. We direct our interests, capacity and energy to improve in particular the
education and holistic development of children and youth.
2. Economic Efficiency of the Social Cooperative
The production of educational toys was thoroughly considered before
it became a key element of the cooperative’s activity. First, this is a unique
type of product, which allows the cooperative to have clients beyond the
local market. It also does not require that the products be ideally identical,
which is significant when the cooperative employees do not have high
tailoring skills. One can also use different materials for production
(including scrap material, etc.). Moreover, this kind of activity enables
the cooperative to avoid expensive intermediaries in product sales: pre-schools are easy to identify and their addresses can be found through
the Internet. It is also important that in this type of work the cooperative
can sub-contract local specialists to prepare the precise, small elements
of the toys (e.g. elements that are attached to the wall hangings), which
relieves cooperative members from the monotonous and difficult task and
makes production more efficient21. Simultaneously, it is important for the
social embedding process of the enterprise because it allows cooperative
members to establish partnership relations with local residents, who
contribute to the cooperative22. Moreover, the cooperative can offer
21
The cost of work of the cooperative members turned out to be relatively high:
what should have taken 480 work hours to produce actually took 780. There was an effort
to increase the cooperative efficiency and thus selected elements of the production were
sub-contracted at lower production costs.
22
There are many people in the local community who contribute to the production of
clothing firms.
140
pre-schools, which are the cooperative’s main clients, other products that
are necessary for their work and ones that require creative and innovative
thinking rather than ideal repetition and precise tailoring skills.
No less significant for the economic efficiency of the cooperative is
creative contribution of the designer, who occasionally visits the “Old
School” and proposes new ideas for toys (which are distinctly original
and colourful). The uniqueness of these products means that there is
no need to specifically search for potential clients. In November 2007,
the “Old School” sold its first four toys (the abovementioned large
format educational wall hangings) to local pre-schools. By March 2008,
it was already difficult for the cooperative to keep up with the demand.
Promotional activities were continued, mostly through the involvement
of the consultant. The consultant, along with the cooperative members,
made a presentation of the products for selected pre-schools, both public
and private. A promotional folder was prepared with description of the
“Old School’s” main products. Also a website was created: www.staraszkola.org.pl.
In addition to cooperation with local tailors as subcontractors, the
cooperative developed contacts with local producers of raw materials
that were needed for the toy production. The cooperative has not yet
established partner relations with local stores and boutiques, mostly
as a result of how different the cooperative’s products are from other
producers.
At the current phase of development, it is difficult to estimate the
economic success of the cooperative in the longer term. It seems, though,
that the unique idea of producing large format educational toys in the
tailoring workshop offers a significant opportunity for the success of the
enterprise. It remains open to question how the cooperative will carry on
its work after the consultant leaves because it was the consultant who was
the main source of inspiration, ideas and ultimately responsible for the
realisation of promotional and marketing activity of the “Old School”.
The first months of entirely independent activity will most likely decide
about the future perspectives of the enterprise. The vision for the future
development of the “Old School” after completion of the project remains
to be defined. The cooperative members have many ideas, but there are
no concrete plans for their implementation.
It is worth noting that in accordance with the EQUAL funded
project’s plans, after the project is completed (in April 2008), the
promotional work of the social cooperative is to be supported by the
Socio-Economic Association “Partner”, which will have been created as
141
a part of the project by two institutions from the Local Partnership in Ełk
and two social cooperatives in Golubie23 and in Prostki. When we were
completing the last phase of the study, this Association was only being
registered24 and thus it was uncertain what kind of specific supportive
activities it would carry out.
3. Embedding the Enterprise in the Local Community
The community in Prostki is rather closed to outsiders and not
welcoming of change. After 1989 during the local elections, support
was given mostly to “tested and proven people”, that is people who are
local, well-known, and considered “ours”, even if these people did not
make a positive contribution to the local history. In evaluating the society
in Prostki, the community development worker found several socially
active people, but they worked in isolation and did not capitalise on their
potential by working together. Social capital and especially its “weaker”
version of bridging capital, which builds links between different social
groups, practically do not exist in Prostki. There is no mutual trust among
the residents.
The cooperative, which was the legal form of an enterprise that was
adopted for the “Old School”, turned out to be foreign to many people
and aroused negative associations with the communist period among
some residents. As one of the representatives of the Local Partnership
in Ełk stated: “State collective farms taught us that if it belonged to the
state, then it belong to no one; so if it’s a social cooperative, who does
it belong to?” When it turned out that the cooperative was to be created
by people who were socially marginalised and long-term unemployed, the
idea was treated as a joke and the residents mocked it. The community
development worker summarised the general attitude in the following
way: “the social rejects are doing something that will probably be
a failure”. Thus, the environment in which the cooperative emerged was
not supportive.
Moreover, the people who were designated to work in the cooperative
by the Poviat Labour Office faced a great challenge because the project
was delayed for eight months during the beginning phase. During this
23
The Local Partnership in Ełk established two social cooperatives: the “Old School”
in Prostki and another in the village of Golubie (located around 15 km from Ełk).
24
The Association was being registered at the time of the preparation of this
publication (Editor’s note).
142
time, the more active among the people who were recruited to work in
the cooperative found other employment, others left the project because
they did not understand the idea of the cooperative, or feared losing their
unemployment status and ultimately did not join the initiative.
According to the project plans, the Local Partnership in Ełk, which
included the Prostki commune head, was to support the process of
embedding the cooperative in the local community. As mentioned earlier,
the change of the project coordinator in the local government weakened
the involvement and level of collaboration between the local partner
institutions. Thus, in addition to the unsupportive social environment,
there were significant changes taking place within the Local Partnership,
which did not facilitate the embedding of the “Old School” cooperative
in the community. On the other hand, the work of the consultant was
important in slowing down the process of disembedding the cooperative.
From this perspective, a visit from a journalist from the women’s weekly,
“NAJ” in August 2007, who wrote an article about enterprising women
in Prostki, gave the cooperative members a sense of faith and comfort25.
The media’s interest in the Prostki cooperative warmed the attitudes of
Prostki residents toward the cooperative and even prompted the first
expression of interest toward it, which is significant for the process of
embedding.
The location of the cooperative in the building where a school once
functioned was also significant. The cooperative members rightly assumed
that the name “Old School” would have positive connotations for the
residents, many of whom studied in the building and looked back fondly
at their childhood years in the school. As one employee of the Local
Cultural Centre remarked, when the cooperative was established, the
residents looked at it positively because they thought that the “old school
building will be revived and will no longer be falling to ruin, something
will be happening in it, the building will be renovated and people will be
satisfied”. As mentioned earlier, a positive image of the “Old School” was
also the effect of the marketing campaign: it symbolised the good quality
of products offered by the cooperative.
The ceremonial opening of the enterprise, which took place on the 7th
of October 2007, was also very important for embedding the cooperative
in the community. Everyone who doubted the establishment of the
cooperative could see the concrete effects of the work of the cooperative
members such as examples of the large format toys and the “Four seasons
25
http://www.naj.kobieta.pl
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of the year” wall hangings. The cooperative members worked very
hard, often into the late evening hours, in order to prepare the exhibit
of products for the opening. Prostki residents were also attracted to the
cooperative by an exhibit of old photographs depicting life around the
school, which was the idea of one employee of the Local Cultural Centre
(Gminny Ośrodek Kultury – GOK) and the community development
worker, who was the founder of the newly created Association for
Social Initiatives “Our Prostki” (Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Społecznych
‘Nasze Prostki’). An employee of the GOK became the president of
the Association. The exhibit gave Prostki residents the opportunity
to reminisce about “old times”, and in this way the cooperative was
positively written into the residents’ consciousness.
The cooperative can become a place of growth for a local civil society
in Prostki because the village residents have nowhere to meet. The GOK
is not popular among the residents (its activities are aimed mostly toward
children). The cooperative can fill this gap. The Association “Our Prostki”
holds meetings in the “Old School”, sometimes for a small, select group
of people but also for all residents and their guests. Some cooperative
members are also members of the Association. The cooperative rented
a room to residents at a low cost for a New Year’s Eve party (and it is
possible to organise other social events there), and it also rents rooms
for English language lessons. In such a way, the “Old School” reaches
out to the community with offers for practical and useful services.
Particularly significant is the idea to organise a memorial hall in the
building, which will be the effect of the residents’ own contribution of old
furniture, family memorabilia, family histories, art and photography. This
project will help create a common vision of the local history, strengthen
emotional bonds within the community, which is particularly significant
for regions in the Mazuria area where the residents are mostly immigrants
who do not have a long common history upon which to build a collective
identity. The president of the cooperative revealed that there is an idea
to organise history lessons and “for example for the teachers and children
to come and depending on the lesson topic, for the cooperative to offer
examples that would bring the topic closer to the children”. (In such
a way, there would be a symbolic exchange between the “new” school
the “old” school). There are also plans to open a café in the basement of
the “Old School”, which would offer catering services as well as the idea
that was mentioned earlier, of renting rooms in the attic of the building.
Clearly, the cooperative has many plans for how to open itself up to the
residents and embed its activity in the community.
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The community development worker played an important role
in embedding the cooperative in the community. In accordance with
the plans for the project “Building a New Lisków”, opening a social
enterprise was an operational goal while a strategic goal was activating
and developing selected communities in the Eastern regions of Poland.
Activating the community was the goal of four community development
workers, one of whom worked in Prostki (and a second village near Ełk-Golubie). The community development worker’s activities involved
developing the residents’ capacity to organise, create networks of
cooperation and mutual trust. From the very beginning, the community
development worker cooperated closely with the GOK. As a result of the
involvement of one of the employees of that institution, the GOK became
the point of entry for further collective activities. The first was the
Academy of Young Media Leaders, an educational project directed toward
young people from the local community. As part of the project, middle
school youth were trained in the basics of journalism and web design.
The website, www.naszeprostki.pl, was created and visited by over
50,000 people during its first six months. The success of this initiative
gave other ideas for projects. In September 2007, the Association for
Social Initiatives “Our Prostki” was created with the goal of promoting
social engagement among the local residents “with a particular emphasis
on promoting activities in the field of education, culture, tourism, and
enterprise”26. The activities of the Association are mostly focused on
work with youth, although not exclusively. It has become an intermediary
between the cooperative and the local community, a communication
channel for the exchange of information and ideas between the two sides
about what can be done for the benefit of Prostki. The Association enabled
the community development worker to reach the school-aged youth, and
through the youth the community worker could reach the parents.
In this context, the significance of the employee of the GOK (the
president of the Association “Our Prostki” at the same time) is particularly
great. She is a sort of discovery of the community development worker,
a real community leader who is well oriented in the village. She has lived
in Prostki since birth, has wide contacts in the community, is involved,
takes part in trainings and participates in the creation of a local strategy
for the development of the NGO sector in Ełk. Through her volunteerism
in the newly created Association and her cooperation with the community
development worker, she became an important figure in the community.
26
Cited from the webpage: http://www.nasze-prostki.pl/stowarzyszenie
145
It appears that she has become a natural leader who through her activity
creates opportunities for the involvement and integration of community
residents as well as for further embedding the social cooperative in the
community. She consistently confirms that the Association makes an effort
to financially support the “Old School”: “the cooperative gives us access
to space at no cost. And if there will be projects and money, then of course
the cooperative will receive a portion of the money because we don’t want
to give it to anyone else, only to the cooperative. For now, we meet in
the cooperative as guests and it’s nice this way…but I understand that if
we will have the capacity than we will pay for everything”.
As a result of the activities of the cooperative, including those carried
out in collaboration with the Association “New Prostki”, the social
reception of the “Old School” changed to become more open – in essence,
all of our respondents indicated a growing interest in the cooperative and
in what is happening in the “Old School”. Progressively, there are clients
who are interested in benefiting from the services of small tailoring jobs.
The president of the cooperative noticed that: “they saw that from the
pile of rubbish that we started from, we created clean walls with chairs,
a place where they can talk in peace...where they can make Xerox copies…
where they can have their trousers tailored…that we are doing something
to benefit the pre-school. They see that something is being built rather
than ruined”. The cooperative has become a recognisable place and it
appears that it is becoming a “local” place, in contrast to the situation in
the middle of 2007 when, as the community development worker recounts,
“the cooperative did not function as an autonomous institution, but as
a project, which means ‘not ours’, external to Prostki”. News about the
changing attitudes toward the cooperative within the Prostki community
reached members of the Local Partnership in Ełk. The representative of one
institution in the partnership remarked that: “you can feel this sort of intense
observation, but now it is favourable, as if people believe that maybe
something will actually work out. Just half a year ago, it was impossible
to imagine that someone could look so positively at [the cooperative], they
would just say ‘What are those stupid women doing?’”.
In other words, the “Old School” cooperative, which was an institution
created by external agents in the form of the Ełk Local Partnership with
the support and engagement of people like the community development
worker, the president of the Association “Our Prostki” and the consultant,
is now perceived by Prostki residents as “ours”.
Each institution in the Local Partnership in Ełk played a role in
creating the cooperative, which allowed the cooperative to capitalise on
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the existing local networks. The consultant however, was the first to use
his existing contacts and to develop new ones in order to promote and
establish the “Old School” on the local market. The consultant as well
as the tailoring instructor, who led the first patchwork training sessions,
also came from outside of Prostki and learned about the cooperative
from the community development worker. Thus, external links played
a larger role in the process of promoting the cooperative than local
contacts. Simultaneously, the cooperative has enabled the creation of
a new network of links in Prostki. Below we shall take a closer look at
the contacts that the cooperative created.
The cooperative decided to produce large format toys and to distribute
them directly to pre-schools throughout Poland. This approach was
chosen in order to avoid costly intermediaries. The suppliers of materials
for toy production were found through the Internet and through informal
contacts. A local sculptor in Prostki designed the cooperative’s logo
and the cooperative plans to continue working with him on developing
the souvenirs workshop and memorial hall. Although the toys were
produced with plans to sell them to pre-schools throughout Poland, the
first educational toys were sold on the local market to pre-schools in Ełk.
Clients of the souvenirs workshop, however, will be tourists; while those
visiting the memorial hall will include both tourists and locals.
From the perspective of embedding the cooperative in the community,
the decision to sub-contract local tailors to produce the decorative elements
for the “Four Seasons of the Year” wall hanging was exceptionally
important. This arrangement relieves “Old School” employees from
a monotonous and labour-intensive task, which they cannot complete
efficiently and which thus reduces the costs of production. Developing
this cooperation guarantees additional income for the residents who are
engaged in the tailoring work and it thus stimulates the economic activity
on the local market. This approach also depicts how the development of the
cooperative is accomplished through cooperation rather than competition
with other institutions on the local market. The president of the cooperative
stated that: “it works not on the basis of undercutting someone, but on the
basis of partnership and mutual help”. The cooperative indeed has many
plans for collaboration with other institutions. For example, the cooperative
established collaborative relations with a warehouse in the neighboring city
of Ełk as well as with one in Białystok, a regional capital 100 km away
from Prostki as well as with a warehouse in Warsaw.
The cooperatives activities, which were meant to help it develop as
an institution, also influenced changes in the functioning of the commune
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of Prostki. The two new institutions – the “Old School” cooperative and
the Association “Our Prostki” – work toward the important social goal of
local community integration. People appeared in the Prostki community
who were important not because of the power that they held but because
of what they do and how it works to benefit the community. Thus, civil
society structures were established alongside the local government.
In the near future, this will most certainly contribute to cross-sectoral
cooperation, which is important for local democracy. The commune head
in the village of Prostki has already noticed the changes taking place as
a result of the cooperative and the association: “I cannot fail to mention
that the activities that began to take place as a result of the establishment
of the social cooperative in Prostki led to a series of other ideas or even
initiatives that will help promote the commune in other ways. This forced
us to carry out certain activities to promote the commune, which gave us
a new way of looking at certain issues because we had staked out a path
for the future. Now I see things very optimistically and count on the help
of some of the people who were involved in this project”. For the time
being, the commune head sees changes in the promotion of Prostki and
the way of its functioning, but the process that began with the creation
of two autonomous centres of activity in the community will probably
exceed well beyond these two spheres.
To summarise the process of the social embedding of the “Old
School”, we must emphasise that the attitudes of the residents toward the
new type of entrepreneurship changed significantly. At the beginning, no
one understood the new initiative despite the fact that so many institutions
from the Local Partnership in Ełk (and not only from the partnership)
were involved in its creation. The social attitudes were negative or even
hostile. Thanks to the community development worker, the consultant and
the president of the Association “Our Prostki” as well as the cooperative
members, the environment in which the “Old School” functioned became
more welcoming. Now, people come to the cooperative and are interested;
they want to use the services it offers and see with their own eyes what is
taking place there.
4. Social Effectiveness: Spheres That Were Visibly
Influenced
The social goals of the “Old School” cooperative are closely linked
to its financial goals. If the “Old School” can sustain itself financially
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it will be possible to maintain employment positions which will in turn
foster the professional and social integration of the cooperative members,
and the activation of the entire Prostki community in the longer term.
Thus, we can evaluate the social influence of the social cooperative in
Prostki in terms of both the broader community (which we discussed with
reference to the social embedding process of the “Old School”), but also
in terms of the cooperative members and employees.
The social impact of the cooperative on the employees (the
cooperative members) is more direct and its effects are immediately more
visible. The institutional impact of the cooperative is limited by the fact
that it is new and that the employees are only now developing norms
and patterns of behaviour, its own institutional culture; nevertheless, the
“newness” of the cooperative is also its attribute in terms of creating social
change. The people who became cooperative members had great problems
such as a low sense of self-worth and a lack of basic social skills (some
of them had been unemployed for as long as 20 years). In some cases, the
cooperative members were closed off to anyone except their closest family
members. For this reason, daily activity which requires self-mobilisation,
entering into new relations and taking on new social roles was a great
challenge for the cooperative members. The new condition of employment
prompted dramatic changes in the lives of the cooperative members, which
continue to take place to this day. It is worthwhile to examine the process
of becoming a cooperative member more closely; it will help us understand
the social impact of the “Old School”.
The process of becoming a member and employee of the social
cooperative lasted a relatively long time when we consider the time
between the recruitment of the unemployed people by the Poviat Labour
Office and the moment when work began in the cooperative. During
these several months, the cooperative members were not informed about
the progress of the project (the renovation of the “Old School” building
lasted longer than planned). In such a situation, it was difficult to expect
the future cooperative members to remain interested and engaged in the
project. The Local Partnership organised several study visits, but some of
them were counter-productive, such as a trip to social enterprises in the
Warmia and Mazuria Voivodeship. They saw the social cooperative that
was closed down after one year because of internal conflicts and lack of
cooperation. It discouraged several people from the idea of cooperative
activity and ultimately they did not participate in the initiative.
Therefore, the Local Partnership was not able to maintain the
potential participants’ interest and to mobilise the beneficiaries in the
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period preceding the founding of the social enterprise. The most mobile
of people from the group that the Labour Office trained resigned from the
project and found employment elsewhere (at that time, the situation on
the labour market began to improve). Thus, the people who stayed with
the project were less self-sufficient and lacked an entrepreneurial bent.
It was these people, however, who became the cooperative members.
During interviews carried out at the beginning of July 2007, the
community development worker described the attitudes of the cooperative
members in the following way: “there is no such thing as a management
team or a cooperative as an institution…The only thing that exists
is a cooperative as a part of the project; it is not an autonomous
institution…these people do not describe themselves as ‘me, a cooperative
member’, ‘this is mine, this is generally my place of work, etc. They
only come to listen to what we have to say, to learn or not to learn what
someone wants to teach them, and then to go home”.
Nevertheless, through contacts with people involved in the project,
the cooperative members began to participate in new social relations and
meet new people, which fostered a change in their lives. Many institutions
were interested in the cooperative members and they became the centre
of attention, which gave them a sense of self-worth. Most importantly,
however, “something” began to happen in their lives, which completely
exceeded their previous experiences. One member of the Local
Partnership in Ełk illustrates this change: “they would come to the Local
Partnership meetings and at the beginning, they only sat in because for
them it was new to spend time with people who are so smart while here he
is, an unemployed person…but here [at the meetings] you have to speak,
you have to say what bothers you”.
As the cooperative members stated in their accounts, the attitudes of
their friends and neighbours toward the initiative were very negative at
the beginning – no one believed that it would succeed and the cooperative
employees were mocked. The date for the beginning of work was
delayed, which strengthened the criticisms. Thus, the period preceding
the beginning of work was difficult for the cooperative workers. They
also had a sense of insecurity and fears, which is visible in how they
imagined their first day of work. One of our respondents felt great fear
on this day, which was associated with strong emotions, tension and
stress: “I was terribly scared; I imagined that we wouldn’t even have any
coffee and that we wouldn’t have any place to sit or that we would sit
and then do nothing”. The fear about a lack of coffee or a place to sit
reveals a profound insecurity of the respondent about the situation that
150
she was to enter: will she be able to find her way? What will she do?
The statement that “we would sit and then do nothing” reveals the lack of
meaning that “being at work” has for her.
The cooperative members also feared everything related to the
maintenance of the location of their enterprise, such as the costs of heating
and electricity. For people who felt that the very fact of going to work was
a challenge, the idea of maintaining and managing such a large building
exceeded their capacity in their view – it was so abstract for them that it
did not enable normal functioning.
Support from their families was a very important factor in helping
the cooperative members adapt to the new situation. One respondent
underlined that the fears of her children and husband increased her own
anxiety. In contrast, another respondent did not resign from participating
in the enterprise thanks to the support of her family.
From the respondents’ statements, however, it appears that despite
very difficult beginnings, stress, fears and insecurity, and asking
themselves “Will I make it?”, “Will all of this work?”, working in
the cooperative intensified the changes that began earlier during the
recruitment period and the introductory training. However ambivalent
the beginning for our respondents (on the one hand, being the centre of
attention, expanding social relations, and on the other hand, insecurity,
sceptical comments from neighbours and friends), the changes taking
place after the work began were deep and more directed.
The process of changes in the participants of the study is revealed on
a linguistic level. The first day of work, which had been a cause of fear in
one of the cooperative members, turned out to be very positive: “it’s all so
fun”. Another respondent, who was less afraid, but wanted to just make it
through, said that the day for her was just “nice”. Generally speaking, the
opening day celebration of the enterprise was viewed as ceremonial and
the cooperative members remembered in particular the public reading of
the mission statement. The work itself began to bring real joy: “this thing
happened that is difficult for us, we just sit here and have fun and are
happy to see good things come out of it; it’s the joy that everyone gets out
of having a kid inside…”.
Becoming employed changed the life of the cooperative members as
well as their attitudes, how they acted their social roles, and how their
functioned in their families. One of our respondents admitted that thanks
to the work, she realised how long she had been closed off to the world
outside of the house: “it sort of overwhelmed me the sitting in the house,
I think I over-did it, for myself, for my kids and I didn’t feel happy or
151
satisfied anymore”. This cooperative member recognises a change in her
general attitude toward life by juxtaposing her situation before beginning
work in the cooperative with her situation after joining the cooperative:
“before, I would open my eyes in the morning and think ‘and again the
same thing’ because I sat in the house for nearly 20 years. Now when
I wake in the morning, I say to myself, ‘it’s an important day, even more
important than yesterday’ and it’s like that every day. Really, this is what
I needed, I mean what all of us needed”. For another respondent, taking
up a job was an internal challenge to persevere with the goal but also
a challenge to advance: “I have a worse situation because I commute, so
I have to get up at 5 AM to take the bus at 6:55. It’s 15 km. It’s a sort
of sacrifice on my part because I just decided to do it and now I want
to do what I planned”.
Some of the cooperative members describe the changes taking
place inside them as an internal war: “I had to fight with myself because
I felt very good…I had everything in order”. The respondents also see
the victories in this war: “The first, very important step has been taken.
The barrier of powerlessness is overcome, I have some sense of self-confidence and as I say, I open my eyes and say, the day is very important
and we already have it all of us. Life is slowly becoming cohesive, the
pieces are slowly being put in order”.
The cooperative management observes, however, that the “emotional
swings” of the employees continue, which is confirmed by the consultant
and the president of the Association. It is also visible in the chaotic
statements of our respondents. Stories of success are full of statements
suggesting that the cooperative members continue to make an effort
to convince themselves that the work they are doing is worthwhile, that
the initiative must succeed.
Currently, only tailoring work is carried out in the cooperative, though
the ultimate scale of production and available services is to expand. The
people who were recommended to work in the cooperative and who had
skills in pottery-making (useful in souvenir production for example)
or who were interested in working in the rehabilitation workshop are
currently involved in the tailoring workshop. Most people did not have
previous experience with tailoring, but were able to break through:
“I also didn’t know that I would be able to do that, I swear”. As a result,
the cooperative members discover their potential: “I completely did
not know that I have such skills, I completely didn’t know. I don’t know
what potential I have inside of me”. This last sentence is particularly
significant because it shows that the changes taking place as a result of
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the work surprise the cooperative members themselves and allow them
to rediscover themselves, their talents and consequently to build a new
self-identity. A training workshop in patch-working skills carried out
by an instructor also played an important role in this process of exposing
the cooperative members’ potential; the process of freeing their creativity
began in this way. As the community development worker stated: “for
these women, it was a revolution”.
One of our respondents who was not able to overcome her fear and
“sit down to work at the sewing machine” eventually found her place
among the cooperative members. As the president of the “Old School”
stated: “if she can’t sew, she sits and cuts out the cloth”.
In such a way, the process of becoming a cooperative member turned
out to be long and full of challenges. It required endurance, the desire
to exceed one’s skills, to prove to oneself that change is possible as long
as one endures in one’s plans. The cooperative members who remained in
the project were people who, to use the words of one of our respondents,
“were stubborn”. But it also required courage to go “into the unknown”,
to take a risk: “honestly, courage is one thing, but it’s a sort of craziness
on our part”. It seems that the decision to be a part of the cooperative
was itself a breakthrough in the way of thinking of the cooperative
members. It meant that the person became involved in an initiative that
was not fully understood and that had an unclear future. Our respondents,
however, recognise the changes that took place as a result of working in
the cooperative. Their motivation to work is no longer limited to the idea
of improving their material status, but it also includes non-financial values
such as feeling mutual support, a higher self-confidence, consciousness
about their impact on the work of the cooperative, a general improvement
in their quality of life, and happiness, all of which result from the fact of
being employed.
It would seem that the impact of the cooperative on its employees
is great. It initiated changes in the perception of identity among the
cooperative members, their vision of the world, and it expands their
worldview. All of these processes lead to a genuine social reintegration
of our respondents and thus accomplishes one of the cooperative’s social
goals.
* * *
The process of social change, which began through to the social
cooperative that was founded in Prostki, can be witnessed on two levels:
153
on the level of the cooperative employees and on the local community
level. Without under-appreciating the positive influence of the “Old
School” on its employees, it should be underlined that the process of
embedding the enterprise in the community is particularly valuable.
Only a social enterprise that is embedded in the local social network
can capitalise on the local capacity, which in turn gives the enterprise
a greater chance of success. It seems that in the case of the “Old School”,
this process of embedding is taking place in reality. The cooperative
offers its services to the residents of Prostki, including a neutral place for
meetings. In the future, it will also offer the possibility to return to the
community’s roots and traditions through the memorial hall. In this sense,
the “Old School” capitalises on the local cultural resources.
However, the cooperative also plans to offer services for tourists
(including rooms for rent). If this plan succeeds, the cooperative will
also capitalise on local tourism. The cooperative approaches its work
with an attitude of partnership and attempts to work with local providers
of goods and services as well as sub-contracting to local institutions,
which inevitably fosters local economic exchange. The “Old School”
and the Association are also institutions that were created independently
of the local public administration, which contributed to the formation
of a new social network in the community that can develop into new
forms of cooperation between public and civil society institutions in the
future. The social network can in turn create opportunities for greater
citizen engagement in public life because only strong and active local
civil societies can successfully protect residents from poverty and social
exclusion. Thus, we can look at the future of the “Old School” and the
entire community of Prostki in a positive light.
Part II
Social Economy in Poland: Reflections
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Community in Action –
1
Reflections and Hypotheses
If the question of the involvement of local community members in
issues that are important to them is a worthwhile research topic, then this
is above all because the quality of life is better in places where that kind
of involvement is greater and worse in places where there is less of it.
The label “better/worse” has an ethical dimension because participation is
an expression of democratic values and pragmatism: participation allows
one to achieve a higher standard of living because it is a more efficient
way of organising collective action. The question is thus important
especially for social policy that is directed toward underdeveloped regions
that simultaneously respect the autonomy of the communities living in
such regions.
The community becomes an autonomous entity when it gains the
capacity to articulate its own interests/needs outside the structures of the
state and to fulfill them or to take appropriate action to fulfill them. This
is possible if the community has its own organisations, meaning that it
1
The article is an English version of the paper published in Polish as:
T. Kaźmierczak, Społeczność lokalna w działąniu – refleksje i hipotezy, in: T.
Kaźmierczak, K. Hernik (eds.), Społeczność lokalna w działaniu. Kapitał społeczny.
Potencjał społeczny. Lokalne governance, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008,
pp. 171–185. Text summarizes seven case studies prepared by Dobroniega Trawkowska
and Emilia Trawkowska, Kamila Hernik and Jacek Kisiel, Agnieszka Włodarczyk,
Katarzyna Lipka-Szostak, Agnieszka Hryniewicka, Joanna Leszczyńska and Agata
Doborowlska, Ewa Bogacz-Wojtanowska. All those case studies were published in
T. Kaźmierczak, K. Hernik (eds.), op. cit. The English versions of case study written
by Kamila Hernik and Jacek Kisiel as well as the one by Joanna Leszczyńska and Agata
Dobrowolska are published in this volume (Editors’ note).
158
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
is able to self-organise. In essence, this slightly different description of
local civil society presents it as a dynamic process rather than a structural
phenomenon2. The perspective that we adopt in the following discussion
is that local civil society is created for action and develops and strengthens
through action.
Below, we present the reflections and hypotheses that will be
discussed in this article. They are related to the following issues:
● The role of community capacity, and particularly social capital, in
the process of civil society crystallising;3
● A (dominating) model for local governance culture and its source;
● The conditions in which a culture of local governance and
partnership can evolve;
● The conditions in which partnerships can develop above the
administrative gmina, local level (on an institutional level);
● The conditions in which the capacity of social enterprise is freed
to promote local development.
* * *
Among the rural communities that we studied, a developing local civil
society can be described in the cases of Rodaki, Handzlówka and Kadłub.
Łykoszyn and Dokudów are communities in which attempts to develop
autonomy have not yet been successful.
In all these communities, the mobilising impulse for the residents
was an opportunity (though rare) for the improvement of or a challenge
(most often) to their economic interests or the public good. Most often,
the mobilising impulse was the threat of a school closing, which in rural
areas is not only a place of learning for children but it also has a more
general social significance. It is not surprising that the concept of common
economic interests or a public good appears in all of the villages that
2
J. Kurczewska, for example, posits that local civil societies are “complex structures
of free cooperation between individual actors and community institutions which are based
on a specific material and social space and exist at a given moment”. See: J. Kurczewska,
Lokalne społeczeństwo obywatelskie (dwie możliwości interpretacyjne), in: B. Jałowiecki,
W. Łukowski (eds.), Społeczności lokalne, teraźniejszość i przyszłość, Wydawnictwo
Naukowe Scholar, Wydawnictwo WSPS Academica, Warsaw 2006, p. 12.
3
Community capacity, in a general sense, is what makes communities “work”. “[It
is] the interaction of human capital, organizational resources and social capital existing
within a given community that can be leveraged to solve collective problems and improve
or maintain the well-being of that community” (R.J. Chaskin, P. Brown, S. Venkatesh,
A. Vidal, Building Community Capacity, Aldin de Gruyter, New York, 2001, p. 7).
Community in Action – Reflections and Hypotheses
159
we studied. The local communities are characterised by a long tradition
and the same families have inhabited them for generations. The effects
of the mobilisation of residents were varied: for example, in the villages
of Rodaki and Handzlówka the activities that the residents engaged in
became a dynamic force for local development, while in Dokudów and
Łykoszyn the activities dissolved. It seems that the differences in the
events described in the case studies can be explained by the different
levels of local Community capacity.
Among the three constitutive factors of local capacity – human capital,
institutional infrastructure, and social capital – the level of social capital in
particular was higher in Rodaki, Handzlówka and Kadłub than in Dokudów
and Łykoszyn. These differences become evident when we compare these
two groups of communities with regard to three other aspects: a) trust,
b) social networks, and c) citizenship engagement. All of these aspects
influence social capital in the understanding of Robert Putnam4.
● Trust. The residents of Rodak, Handzlówka and Kadłub are more
certain that they will not be disappointed or cheated than the residents
of Dokudów and Łykoszyn. These tendencies are evident not only in
the notes and observations of our researchers but above all in the factual
information that they collected. When participants of the economic
development project (cultivating pumpkins) in the village of Dokudów
did not conform to the rules, the project failed. The case was similar
in Łykoszyn, where clients – members of the local community did not
pay back the informal loans that they took in order to borrow farming
equipment from a local association. This behaviour undoubtedly lowered
the profitability of the initiative. Here is another example from the village
of Łykoszyn: one or several people added rotten beans to the beans
produced by other residents, which were to be sold on foreign markets
by a local association. The effect was that the buyer broke the contract,
which would have lasted several years and could have brought significant
economic benefits to the community.
● Social Networks. The level of bridging (horizontal and vertical)
social capital is key to the effective and efficient functioning of the
community. Bridging social capital is created by what Mark Granovetter
4
According to Putnam, social capital “refers to such characteristics of social
organisation as: networks, norms, trust, which facilitate cooperation and coordination of
activities for mutual benefit. It embodies norms and citizens’ networks of engagement”
(R. Putnam, Demokracja w działaniu. Tradycje obywatelskie we współczesnych Włoszech,
Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak, Cracow 1995). See also: R. Putnam, The Prosperous
Community. Social Capital and Public Life, “The American Prospect” 1993, No. 13.
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
called weak ties5. Granovetter’s thesis is that: “the more local bridges
(per person?) in a community and the greater their degree, the more
cohesive the community and the more capable of acting in concert”6.
On the other hand, Alison Gilchrist claims that communities where there
is a high concentration of weak ties is well-connected, which allows the
community to be both dynamic and, let us say, direct-able7. It seems that
in terms of both horizontal and vertical connections, Rodaki, Handzlówka
and Kadłub are clearly more cohesive and better connected communities
than Dokudów and Łykoszyn.
The case of Rodaki is particularly interesting with regard to its
horizontal bridging social capital. In this community there are several
families (primarg groups) in which there are strong ties (Granovetter
calls them cliques). They have played a key role in the social life of the
community for decades. These cliques are not closed however; bridging
networks exist between them, which allow ideas/initiatives developed
in one clique to reach others. Because members of these families
“control” various institutions or aspects of public life that are important
for the community, their participation in bridging networks guarantees
cooperation between these institutions and streamlines activities. Rodaki
is a cohesive and well-connected community because this kind of network
integrates the social structures. Referring to the classical distinction made
by Ferdinand Tőnnies, we can say that it links “community” structures
with “associational” ones”8.
It seems that horizontal bridging networks in the villages of Łykoszyn
and Dokudów are weaker than in Rodaki, Handzlówka and Kadłub.
We can assume that when there is a lack of bridges, ideas/initiatives born
within a clique (even if they take the form of pro publico bono activities
that are objectively good and beneficial for the entire community), will
not have a chance to strengthen and develop because representatives of
other cliques were not able to be involved. Although we cannot point
to clear proof of failure in Dokudów, and even more so in Łykoszyn,
weak bridging networks may be the cause of failure.
Bridges within a given community are important, but links with
outside entities, in the immediate and further environment, are equally
5
See: M.S. Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties, “American Journal of
Sociology” 1973, No. 6.
6
Ibid., p. 1376.
7
See: A. Gilchrist, The Well-Connected Community, The Policy Press, Bristol 2004.
8
See: F. Tőnnies, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, Leipzig, 1887; Polish edition;
Wspólnota i stowarzyszenie, PWN, Warsaw, 1988.
161
if not more important. It is this kind of link that is decisive in whether
a community is open or closed to the world. The villages of Rodaki,
Handzlówka and Kadłub maintain many external contacts, but the villages
of Dokudów and Łykoszyn seem to be isolated communities.
The differences between these two groups of villages are also very
clear when we take into consideration vertical bridging capital. It is
precisely this kind of social capital that played a key role in the early
phases of the economic initiatives implemented in Handzlówka: the
Dean of the University of Technology in the town of Rzeszów first
expressed his moral support for the projects and then introduced the
“Zagroda Handzlowianka” (“Handzlówka Market”) on the prestigious
markets of Rzeszów and Podkarpacie. This was also the case in Kadłub:
the cooperatives received inspiration and support (also material support)
from the German Union of Farmers Forced to Migrate (Związek
Rolników Wypędzonych). In Rodaki, this kind of capital developed later,
but it became very strong and now serves as a key resource to maintain
residents’ participation. In Łykoszyn, the economic initiative was inspired
by a local lawyer, who financially supported it throughout his life until
his death. Nevertheless, the vertical bridges in Łykoszyn were decidedly
weaker, and in Dokudów they were nearly non-existent. It is thus difficult
to consider these last two communities as cohesive and well-connected.
● Citizen Engagement. The existence of various forms of
volunteerism – cultural, athletic, social, educational, etc. – is a measure
of citizen engagement in the community. When we compare both groups
of communities according to this scale, it can be observed that the level
of involvement in Rodaki, Handzlówka and Kadłub is higher than in
Łykoszyn and Dokudów. It should not be surprising then that the activity
of residents in these communities is a continuation of a long and strong
tradition of self-organisation and a rich public life that engages people
in public affairs. Moreover, this tradition is a part of the contemporary
consciousness and a point of pride for the residents. It also influences
their sense of identity. Conversely, collective action organised in the past
by the residents of Łykoszyn and Dokudów was not successful.
In addition to social capital, a community’s capacity is influenced
by the: a) institutional infrastructure and b) human capital.
● Institutional Infrastructure. Although all of the communities
that we studied have the same status in the national public administration
– they are all sołectwo (a village belonging to the broader territory of
the local self-government, the gmina (translator’s note)) – there are
differences in the institutional infrastructure of these villages. The villages
162
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
can be divided into the same two groups: relatively speaking, more
organisations/institutions have their offices in Rodaki, Handzlówka and
Kadłub than in Łykoszyn and Dokudów.
● Human Capital. Consistent data about the level of human capital
in the described communities was not collected. It is worth noting two
issues, however. First, in the villages of Rodaki, Handzlówka and Kadłub
more people were actively engaged in community issues. Thus, the
human capital in these communities exists on an especially high level,
above the minimum threshold: residents are motivated to be involved in
local issues and have the knowledge and skills to make their engagement
productive. Second, the people who carry the weight of running key
activities consistently participate in training programmes that raise their
qualifications and thus increase the effectiveness of the organisations
in which they work/are active. While in Łykoszyn and Dokudów
typically one leader holds the weight of organising activities, in Rodaki,
Handzlówka and Kadłub leadership is a collective endeavour.
The conclusion that we can draw from the above analysis is the
following: a local civil society cannot develop in every community.
It is possible only when community capacity is sufficiently high. Clearly,
it is impossible to precisely define what a sufficient level of community
capacity is. It seems though that the level of social capital ultimately
decides about the development of a local civil society; thus, the quality
and quantity of social networks is of fundamental consequence.
* * *
A local civil society functions in the sphere of public affairs
– members of the community organise in order to better fulfill their
needs, resolve problems, and develop the community. The same can
be said for local public authorities. Article 7 of the Act on local self-governments states that the responsibility of the gmina (local level of
the public administration – translator’s note) is to satisfy the collective
needs of the community. Other regulations charge the gmina with the
responsibility of developing and implementing documents that outline
local development strategies and problem resolution strategies. It can
be considered that a most natural partnership would develop between
local public authorities and local civil society organisations. In reality,
however, the relations between these two types of institutions in the rural
communities that we studied reveal a certain level of tension. Its level
varies: in Handzlówka, for example, it is weak; in other communities
163
these relations are hostile, such as in Łykoszyn where the decision of
the governor to sell a school was devastating to the residents who built
it as a centre for nascent civil society initiatives. This state of relations
is not new, and such situations have been described in the past9. It is
interesting, however, that these tensions arise in places where, for Polish
standards, the relations between public authorities and non-governmental
organisations are exemplary10.
There are of course simple interpretations of this state of affairs:
personal conflicts, conflict of ambitions, and conflicts over maintaining
or gaining power. The weakness of these interpretations, however, is that
they ascribe unclean motives and intentions to actors on both sides. In
essence, there is no well-founded reason to assume the existence of such
motives/intentions in the studied communities. It is more appropriate
to assume that citizens and representatives of local public authorities’
actions are pro publico bono, but if this is the case then where does
the tension come from? Sometimes, the relations between public
authorities and non-governmental organisations are explained by drawing
attention to the paternalistic attitudes of the public authorities11. Without
negating the existence of such attitudes, it is important to note that they
do not explain the problem. We must consider the underlying roots of
such attitudes: Where do they come from? How are they legitimised?
It would seem that the reason for tensions between local public authorities
and non-governmental organisations lie deeper and have a broader
context. They arise from the incompatibility between the logic of the
Polish model of local self-governments (gminas) and the logic of local
civil society activities12.
9
“The relations between the sectors were varied in the last decade [1990s]:
from exemplary cases of socially positive cooperation, to friendly tolerance of unequal
partners, and a lack of cooperation or even mutual dislike of any contact” (M. Rymsza,
A. Hryniewicka, P. Derwich, Jak wprowadzić w życie zasadę pomocniczości państwa:
doświadczenia lat dziewięćdziesiątych, in: M. Rymsza (ed.), Współpraca sektora
obywatelskiego z administracją publiczną, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2004, p. 31).
10
This concerns the gmina Klucze, on the border of which lies the village of Rodaki.
Klucze has all of the necessary strategic documents, including the strategy for coopering
with institutions carrying out public good activities as well as the rare programme for
social policies benefiting the disabled, which gminas prepare in collaboration with NGOs.
11
See: P. Frączak, Między współpracą a konfliktem: dylematy relacji między
organizacjami pozarządowymi a władzami lokalnym, in: M. Rymsza (ed.), Współpraca
sektora obywatelskiego…, op. cit.
12
This hypothesis would also explain why the institutional framework that was
created by the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteer Work is only a facade,
164
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
A gmina is a legally defined self-government community of
political significance (according to Article 1 of the Act on local selfgovernments) that is responsible for all public affairs that influence the
local community. This is a fundamental principle and exceptions are also
regulated by the law (Article 6 of the Act on local self-governments).
The gmina collaborates with non-governmental organisations that have
the status of a public benefit organisation as defined by relevant Acts.
This collaboration can be based, on the one hand, on the transfer of public
responsibilities to non-public institutions and, on the other hand, on the
mutual exchange of information about planned activities and the direction
of cooperation with the goal of harmonising activity; on consulting
regulations governing the activity of non-governmental organisations
with these organisations; and on creating collaborative advisory groups
and initiatives that include representatives from non-governmental
organisations and other institutions as well as from the relevant organs of
the public administration (Article 5 of the Act on Public Benefit Activity
and Volunteer Work). Thus, as can be understood from the above-mentioned laws, the responsibility for the entirety of local public affairs
rests on the local gmina authorities and nothing or no one can relieve
them of these responsibilities. The gmina can and should, however,
benefit from the capacity of non-governmental organisations, including
their “productive power” as well as the knowledge and skills of experts.
In both situations, non-governmental organisations serve as instruments
that the gmina can use to fulfill its responsibility.
A local civil society and its “institutions” are created as an expression
of citizens’ freedom. The nature of their relations with public authorities
is significantly influenced by the following: if they use this freedom
to address issues related to public affairs, then non-governmental
organisations function in the domain that is already legally ascribed to the
gmina authorities. Since the gmina’s responsibility is, so to speak, total,
there is no place for grass-root civil society initiatives in which they
would not have to compete with the gmina, and the gmina with them13.
which hides an old style of behaviours rather than provides a foundation for good
collaboration between sectors. See: M. Rymsza, G. Makowski, M. Dudkiewicz (eds.),
Państwo a trzeci sektor. Prawo i instytucje w działaniu, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw
2007; W. Mandrysz, Relacje pomiędzy badanymi organizacjami a władzą publiczną
na poziomie lokalnym, regionalnym, krajowym, in: K. Wódz (ed.), Negocjowana
demokracja, czyli europejskie governance po polsku, Scholar, Warsaw 2007.
13
This observation confirms the fact that regional and gmina level public authorities
often consider non-governmental organisations as a necessary evil because “in accordance
165
A local civil society is directed by the logic of freedom while local
public authorities by the logic of responsibility; these areas are not
incompatible, but they do generate conflict. What is more, the stronger
the autonomy of the community is, i.e. the stronger the local civil society
is thus the greater the chance of conflict because it will be more difficult
for the gmina to capitalise on the structures of civil society for its own
ends. It seems that the tension in the studied communities is rooted in the
lack of cohesion between these two logics.
This problem, which we barely touch upon in this article, is not
unique to Poland. In essence, it reveals fundamental dilemmas in state-society relations that are characteristic of continental Europe where
the society/nation is transposed onto the state14. Conversely, the Anglo-American model differentiates between a domain belonging to society
and citizens and one belonging to the state. Lester Salamon’s voluntary
failure theory is a typical expression of the latter model15. He considers
the government as a secondary institution, which reacts to the inefficiency
of non-profit organisations. Most theories claim the opposite: non-profit
organisations are secondary and develop in order to reduce the effects of
the state’s inefficiency16.
with the Act on Public Benefit Organisations, self-governments are obliged to create
a programme for cooperation with NGOs. On the other hand, NGOs are treated as
competition by local governments in the fulfillment of certain tasks, securing funding
as well as in the domain of their expertise” (W. Mandrysz, Relacje pomiędzy badanymi
organizacjami…, op. cit., p. 216).
14
This paradigm emerges from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. It
claims that “the state was the highest and supreme interpreter of the people’s will and no
other established body could exist because citizens had to strengthen the authority of the
state in order to widen and protect their individual rights. The liberal form of the state,
which the French Revolution affirmed, implied the isolation of individuals. Accordingly,
the legitimacy of intermediate bodies was to be denied, the only freedom thus being that
referring to single individuals and not to social groups such as corporations, foundation
and associations” (C. Borzaga, A. Santuari, Przedsiębiorstwa społeczne we Włoszech,
Ministerstwo Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, Warsaw 2005, p. 6).
15
See: L. Salamon, Partners In Public Services, in: W. Powell (ed.), The Nonprofit
Sector: A Research Handbook, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press.
16
See: D Burlingame, Dlaczego organizacje non-profit? Amerykański punkt widzenia,
Sektor pozarządowy w zmieniającym się społeczeństwie, in: B. Synak, M. Ruzica (eds.),
Sektor pozarządowy w zmieniającym się społeczeństwie, IFiS UG, Gdańsk–Indianapolis
1996. Conversely, the historian J. Harris describes the goals of the government during the
Victorian period in England as follows: “defining a framework of laws and regulations
that allow society to function largely independently...the corporational aspect of social life
was to take on the form of free associations and focus on local communities, not state
institutions” (J. Harris as cited in J. Lewis, Relacje państwo – sektor ochotniczy w Wielkiej
Brytanii, “Trzeci Sektor” 2006, No. 8).
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Between these two paradigms we find the principle of subsidiarity,
which is written into the preamble of the Polish constitution. It is
mentioned alongside the principles of the sovereignty of each side in
a partnership, efficiency, fair competition, and transparency governing
cooperation between public administration institutions and non-governmental organisations in the domain of public responsibility
(Article 5 paragraph 2 of the Act on Public Benefit Activity and
Volunteer Work)17. It is worth noting that even if this principle functioned
in practice, including in the gminas that we studied, it would still not
remove the source of the tension because the principle of subsidiarity
is not compatible with the logic of local government responsibility.
It requires space between non-public institutions and the state. The
logic of responsibility governing public institutions, which views the
community as a political entity, does not create such a space.
The tension in the relations between public authorities and local civil
society organisations has another source: the space in which local civil
society is active is not congruent with the space occupied by the gmina,
which has arbitrary boundaries. The communities described in this work
are legally defined as sołectwo. Each rural gmina contains several sołectwo
that develop at “different rates”, which means that a sołectwo with a civil
society with strong institutional structures can neighbour with a passive
and apathetic sołectwo. Active communities have different expectations
and needs from the public authorities than passive communities do.
This clearly places public authorities in a difficult position because in order
to fulfill their responsibility they must/should treat all sołectwo equally,
which requires the equal distribution of resources. Clearly, these conditions
cause tensions and conflict because the expectations/demands/conclusions
directed toward the gmina resulting from the needs and interests defined
by the local civil society can be irreconcilable with the principle of equality.
If public authorities do not comply with this principle, then they must at
least be accountable to it18. If such a conflict arises, it is highly likely that
it will be publicly exposed because the local civil society has the capacity
to articulate and publicise it.
Thus, the answer to the question of developing a local governance
culture (model relations and the role of local partnership between local
17
See: M. Rymsza, A. Hryniewicka, P. Derwich, Zasada pomocniczości państwa
w Ustawie o działalności pożytku publicznego i wolontariacie, in: M. Rymsza (ed.),
Współpraca sektora obywatelskiego…, op. cit.
18
This explains in part the tensions in Rodaki, which is decidedly more prominent
compared to other sołectwo in the gmina Klucze.
167
civil society and public authorities in fulfilling the complex public
goals) appears to be the following: the existing institutional structure
does not force the different actors to cooperate, but allows conflicts/
tensions to arise. Each side takes an oppositional stance. Consequently,
these conflicts/tensions continue or, what is worse, escalate. Managing
local public affairs is fragmented, while the realisation of public goals
separately produces chaos rather than synergy.
It must be emphasised, however, that the above hypothesis refers
to communities with a developed local civil society that is sufficiently
strong to aspire to the role of partner for public authorities. Thus, not
every community in which non-governmental organisations formed and
are active can be such a partner. This concerns not only communities
where local civil society structures are weak, but also those in which non-governmental organisations are not a part of local civil society because
they did not form through a process of self-organisation and are not grass-root based. This is particularly the case for organisations that consciously
or unconsciously are instrumentalised by the public administration or are
formed by the public authorities. P. Frączak distinguishes two types of
such organisations:
● quasi-social organisations;
● para-political organisations19.
* * *
As stated earlier, the logic that directs local civil society activity
and the logic of responsibility that is appropriate to the gmina self-government are not cohesive and generate conflict/tension, but they are
not incompatible. It is therefore relevant to ask what conditions would
allow a local governance culture do develop through partnership; the
management of public affairs (all or some of them) would then take place
through a collaborative effort between local public authorities and local
civil society structures, both within the decision-making process and the
implementation of the law.
In searching for an answer to this question it is worth noting that the
practice of cross-sectoral cooperation through “consultation” described
by many of our researchers has improved over time. Grzegorz Makowski
and Marek Rymsza underlined that the work of various advisory groups
19
See: P. Frączak, Między współpracą a konfliktem…, op. cit., p. 48. Also see:
J. Kurczewski (ed.), Lokalne społeczności obywatelskie, Instytute of Applied Social
Sciences of the University of Warsaw, Warsaw 2003.
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
that include representatives from both the public and the social sectors
is more positively evaluated with time. First, such a consultation is
positively evaluated because it supports communication between
the two sides which did not exist before. Second, it creates a space
for direct contact. “In places where such space was created,” write
Makowski and Rymsza, “there was no return to the situation of mutual
relations managed ‘at a distance’. Organisations and self-governments
clearly became closer”20. However, these identified changes are not
sufficiently significant for us to consider them as an all-together new
quality of relations between non-governmental organisations and public
administration. Rather these changes point to what blocks the further
development of a local governance culture that is based on partnership, as
well as the development of the above-mentioned space for direct contact.
Such a space can be understood as horizontal and vertical social networks
(bridging social capital) that link people and institutions working on both
sides21. These networks create channels of communication that enable
negotiation about the differences of perspective, the definition of goals and
priorities, and collaboration in searching for resources and ways of linking
these resources. Such a network also allows both sides to appropriately
adjust to the possibilities and limits of other members of the network.
By transcending sectoral boundaries, networks de facto blur the
boundaries and allow local actors/members of the network to collectively
define their perspective and the appropriate collective action such as
strategies, programmes, or projects. In such a situation, the differences in
logic between public administration and non-governmental organisations
disappear “without hurting anyone”, and the appropriate conditions are
created for improving the efficiency public affairs management causing
a synergy effect. The networks described above function as a social base
for the creation of formal local partnerships, which are understood as
a “tri-sectoral agreement between public institutions, non-governmental
organisations and enterprises that want to act collectively for the benefit
of their region [local partnership]. They have a long-term perspective
and they have a common territory of activity and common goals. Such an
agreement is characterised by its dynamic nature – as a local partnership
20
G. Makowski, M. Rymsza, Jaki mamy pożytek z Ustawy o działalności pożytku
publicznego?, “Analizy i Opinie” No. 82, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008, p. 3.
21
On the meaning of social networks, see: T. Kaźmierczak, Praca socjalna: animacja
społeczna, kapitał społeczny, networking, in: T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), Zmiana w społeczności
lokalnej. Szkice o kapitale społecznym w praktyce społecznej i nie tylko, Institute of Public
Affairs, Warsaw 2007.
169
progressively develops, the number of members and span of activities can
change”22. As much as the existence of a network is a prerequisite for the
development of a partnership, it is human capital (knowledge and skills)
that decides about its efficiency and effectiveness23.
Such a partnership did not arise in any of the communities we studied
because the first social prerequisite was not fulfilled. This does not mean
that the appropriate networks will not develop in the near or more distant
future. The empirical data collected and presented in the following
works suggests that people belonging to both sets of institutions, who
understand the rules (such as current/past local leaders or current/past
gmina employees), play a key role in building networks or bridges that
allow people and public administration institutions to be included in local
civil society networks. Institutions existing between the sphere of the
public administration and local civil society can also function as bridges:
councils of the sołectwo and other advisory councils supporting local
governments, parents’ councils in schools, and other similar institutions.
The example of the Gościniec partnership in the village of Rodaki shows
how effective such people and structures are in building networks.
* * *
A governance culture can exist not only on the sołectwo-gmina
level but also on the levels above the gmina, and it is equally important
on each level. Resolving social and economic problems effectively as
well as achieving defined goals requires activity on all levels of public
administration governing public life. In order to resolve certain problems,
activities must be carried out on both a wider territorial scale and on
administrative levels above the local gmina level.
We studied two cases of partnership agreements on the level above the
gmina. Although the name of both cases contains the term “partnership”,
only the Gościniec Partnership can be considered to be one as we define it
here. Dolina Strugu was not a partnership because its members comprise
only representatives of the gminas administration; it thus maintains
a culture of government, not governance.
Because the partnerships of Dolina Strugu and Gościniec are
essentially two different phenomena, it is difficult to compare them
22
R. Serafin, B. Kazior, A. Jarzębska, Grupy partnerskie. Od idei do współdziałania.
Praktyczny poradnik, Fundacja Partnerstwo dla Środowiska, Cracow 2005.
23
On how to develop a partnership, see: R. Tennyson, Poradnik partnerstwa,
Fundacja Partnerstwo dla Środowiska, Cracow 2006.
170
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
more closely. They do, however, have one aspect in common: both
are partnership agreements between many actors and function very
effectively. It is worth noticing that in both cases the involvement of
key persons in the local community is fundamental to the importance of
the social network. First, the effect of its work is the formal partnership
agreement. Second, the network is a sort of guarantee for the efficiency of
activities that it undertakes and a cohesive vision for long-term plans.
Interestingly, in both cases, external observers noticed that both
partnerships were characterised by a lack of organisational transparency,
which results from the effectiveness of networks in creating implementing
structures for “secondary responsibilities”. These structures are naturally
temporary; their stability and permanence is above all a function of the
network structure itself.
This offers additional proof that a network of connections is
a necessary pre-condition for collective action – whether it be on the
level of a local rural community, the administrative level of the gmina, or
a collaborative effort between institutions.
* * *
The social enterprises that we describe more or less comply with the
accepted criteria of embeddedness. The examples also seem to confirm
the hypothesis that social enterprises have a pro-development function.
They multiply social capital from which they were created and transform
it into other forms of capital:
● financial capital – by stimulating exchanges on the market they
increase the amount of money available to the community;
● human capital – they require people to increase their knowledge
and gain new skills;
● institutional capital – they create a new institutional infrastructure.
The authors of the case studies carefully analysed both the level of
embeddedness as well as the social and economic effectiveness of the
enterprises functioning in the studied communities. It is worth focusing
on two of the communities, which show that the development capacity of
enterprises is not fully capitalised upon in certain circumstances.
The first example is that of the firm Chmielnik-Zdrój in Dolina
Strugu. One of its goals was to support farmers during the difficult period
of economic transformation by guaranteeing markets for their goods. This
initiative was not fully successful because the method of creating the
enterprise (top-down) and its legal form (a firm instead of a cooperative)
171
were not acceptable for the farmers. Thus, the links between the farmers
and the enterprise did not develop.
The second example is that of breeding geese in Rodaki. In this
case, the economic initiative, which had enormous social, ecological and
economic potential (if the authors of the case studies are correct), could
have “burnt out”. The problem in this case was that the rapid development
of the initiative outgrew the capacity of the community. Local authorities,
which could have given a new impetus to the initiative by, for example,
attracting investors, did not do so because they did not treat the initiative
as their own.
Although the type of economic activity is different in each case, their
full social and economic success was limited because of the weak/lack
of embeddedness in the local community/local civil society (in the case of
the Chmielnik-Zdrój firm) or in the local authorities (in the case of geese
breeding in Rodaki). In other words, in order for both initiatives to develop
and for their potential to be freed, they require partnership and the support
and investment of both sides. In such a situation, the conclusion could be
the following: the social enterprise achieves full developmental capacity in
the context of a culture of partnership and local governance.
* * *
The above reflections and hypotheses were concerned with the
conditions that must/should be fulfilled in order for local/regional
communities to 1) be active and 2) be efficiently active. The significance
of this issue results from the fact that in today’s globalised world national
governments are increasingly limited and, paradoxically, a larger span of
issues depend on the activity of the local community.
The perspective that was adopted in this article adopted both the
practical and theoretical views of social sciences. The same issues are of
concern to theoreticians and practitioners of democracy, and for similar
reasons. Many of them derive their ideas from the theory and practice in
the field of deliberative democracy. It is worth noting that the essence of
what we are calling here the culture of local governance and the essence
of deliberative democracy are very closely related and can even be
considered identical in many ways, although the language of the discourse
is different24.
24
See: D. Miller, Demokracja debatująca a teoria wyboru społecznego, in:
P. Śpiewak (ed.), Przyszłość demokracji, Fundacja Aletheia, Warsaw 2005.
Marek Rymsza
The Second Wave of the Social Economy in Poland
1
and the Concept of Active Social Policy
1. The “Old” and “New” Social Economy in Europe
The wave of social economy that began in the 1990s in Europe
is one of the main reactions on an institutional level to the crisis of the
welfare state. As it was noted by Ewa Leś, the growing interest in the
social economy and the third sector as a potential source of social
services dates back to the emergence of the crisis in the doctrine of
a welfare function for the state that occurred in the 1980s2. The abovementioned author refers to the discovery of a “new poverty”, which was
associated above all with social exclusion and not a lack of income. State
programmes aiming to encourage redistribution of economic resources,
and even those that were part of the most expansive welfare state system
during the so-called “golden age of social policy” (in the 1950s, 60s
and 70s before the previously mentioned crisis), did not eliminate “nonincome related poverty”. Critics of the welfare state doctrine claimed
that state programmes, especially those organised by social services,
actually entrenched the problem of social exclusion by putting welfare
beneficiaries into a passive position3. The reaction to this problem was
1
The text is a revised version of the paper published in Polish as: M. Rymsza, Druga
fala ekonomii społecznej a koncepcja aktywnej polityki społecznej, in: T. Kaźmierczak,
M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał Społeczny. Ekonomia społeczna, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2007, pp. 175–189 (Editors’ note).
2
See: E. Leś, Nowa ekonomia społeczna. Wybrane koncepcje, “Trzeci Sektor” 2005,
No. 2.
3
This kind of criticism of social policy in welfare states developed, among others,
the theory of the underclass, which explains the phenomenon of generational inheritance
The Second Wave of the Social Economy in Poland and the Concept... 173
a return to the activation of social welfare beneficiaries, which began as
the concept of workfare (“work instead of welfare”) in the late 1980s in
Anglo-Saxon countries. This approach arose a decade later in welfare
state systems in countries of continental Europe.
The preference for activation support programmes, and especially
those focused on self-activation (social entrepreneurship), put into
question one of the fundamental elements of the welfare state doctrine:
the principle of decommodification, which assumed that public services
aimed to make the well-being of citizens independent of their labour
market activity. Simultaneously, it led to a renewed discovery of the
achievements of the social economy movement at the turn of the 20th
century, and the inter-war period, which worked to develop social
entrepreneurship, especially in the form of cooperatives. As it turned out,
in some countries in Western Europe such as Italy, France and Spain,
cooperatives survived during the entire post-war period by functioning
as an economic activity carried out in the open market conditions of the
time4. In the following paper, I refer to this concept of the social economy
rooted in the European tradition and founded on such institutions as
cooperatives, mutual insurance associations and credit unions as the
“old social economy”. I simultaneously emphasise how this “old social
economy” was different from the modern social economy (“new social
economy”). This latter social economy promotes, on the one hand, new
legal and institutional forms such as social enterprises and, on the other
hand, economic activity undertaken by non-governmental organisations
(associations and foundations). Among cooperatives, it appreciates the
specificity of the institutional form of social cooperatives5.
Ewa Leś refers to the return to the idea of the social economy,
which began in Western Europe in the 1980s, as the development of
a “new social economy movement”6. The use of the word “movement”
indicates the social character of social economy initiatives. In this
framework, such initiatives are understood as a grassroots reaction of
citizens to the crisis of the welfare state, which preceded innovative
activities carried out by public services. In the following discussion,
of poverty by social welfare beneficiaries. See: C. Murray, Losing Ground. American
Social Policy 1950–1980, Basic Books, New York 1994.
4
It should be mentioned that in communist countries the idea of cooperatives was
distorted and cooperatives were integrated into the centrally planned economy.
5
See: M. Rymsza, Stara i nowa ekonomia społeczna. Polska na tle doświadczeń
europejskich, “Trzeci Sektor” 2005, No. 2.
6
See: E. Leś, Nowa ekonomia…, op. cit., p. 43.
174
Marek Rymsza
I will focus on the “second wave” of the social economy understood
in a more narrow sense. I will pass over the period the legitimisation
of the crisis of the welfare state in Western Europe (in the 1980s
and the first part of the 1990s), when decision-makers and expert
circles attempted to defend the status quo on an institutional level.
Consequently, initiatives aiming to introduce reforms were grassrootsbased and were not entirely controlled by the ruling elites7. I will thus
focus on the last decade (the second half of the 1990s to the present)
when the collapse of the welfare state doctrine was inevitable (even
social democrats retreated from defending it8), and European decisionmakers and experts thus focused their efforts on finding a resolution
and undertook reforms of the social welfare systems in different
countries9.
Moreover, it should be underlined that among the factors that opened
Europe to the second wave of the social economy was the fact that
social policy was reoriented, which first of all involved the promotion
of the concept of an active social policy in Europe (in Poland as well).
Second, in the case of Poland, there was a gradual acceptance of the
view that social policies must be reoriented to prioritise activation over
protection activities, and moreover, not by simply accepting European
Union priorities but by identifying the functional demands that arise
during subsequent phases in the transformation process, which began in
1989. It must be made clear that the second of the above factors should
not be reduced to the first. In the case of Poland’s openness to the social
economy, we can observe a fusion of the two independent factors:
implementing European Union priorities after our country entered the EU
as well as considering our own experiences with the transformation and
drawing lessons from the mistakes, insufficiencies and limits of social
policy during the first several years of systemic change10.
7
It is worth noting that until recently, in Western European academic circles of
researchers interested in the question of social policy, the predominating conviction was
that neoliberal social reforms are an extreme ideology of Anglo-Saxon “Reagan-omics”
and will not impact on the functioning of the “European social model”.
8
See: A. Giddens, The Third Way. The Renewal of Social Democracy, Polity Press,
Cambridge 1998.
9
See: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna w teorii i praktyce, in: T. Kazmierczak,
M. Rymsza (eds.), W stronę aktywnej polityki społecznej, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw
2003.
10
See: M. Rymsza, Reformy spoleczne lat dziewiedziesiatych: próba podsumowania,
in: M. Rymsza (ed.), Reformy społeczne. Bilans dekady, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2004.
The new wave of the social economy in Europe is largely supported
by the state: it is a policy priority of the EU11 and of a great majority
of the Member States12.The active role of state social policy, which
distinguishes the second wave of the social economy from the first, is
illustrated in the scheme below.
The “old” and “new” social economy
Characteristics of the traditional European model of the social economy (SE):
– SE fills niches that are “unattractive” for the commercial market;
– Participation in SE initiatives is based on the principle of reciprocity
(mutuality);
– A key role of leaders and social activists in undertaking and promoting
initiatives;
– Initiatives are grassroots and sustainable;
– Lack of legal benefits for SE institutions with a low level of market regulation
by the state;
– Typical SE institutions: cooperatives, mutual insurance associations, credit
unions.
Characteristics of the modern social economy sector in the European Union:
– SE builds clusters around the “normal market”;
– The basis of participation in SE initiatives: the principle of inclusion of the
socially excluded; the concept of “mixing risks” (in social enterprises, fully
capable employees “lift up” disabled employees);
– The important role of leaders, managers as well as support from the state in
undertaking and promoting the initiatives;
– Supported employment and social employment made possible with public
subsidies;
– Significant legal benefits for SE institutions in the context of a relatively
high level of market regulation by the state;
– Typical SE institutions: social enterprises, social cooperatives, non-governmental organisations that carry out economic activities.
Source: author.
2. Disseminating the Concept of Active Social Policy
It is with certain satisfaction that I analyse the state of disseminating
the concept of an active social policy in the context of the new social
economy in Poland; in recent years, we have observed that the direction
11
See: S. Kelly, Ekonomia społeczna i przedsiębiorczość społeczna w Unii
Europejskiej, in: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), W stronę..., op. cit.
12
See: A strategic challenge for employment, CIRIEC, Liege 2000.
176
Marek Rymsza
of change in policies has confirmed the accuracy of the recommendations
made by the Institute of Public Affairs through the Social Policy
Programme. In 2003, among other works, we published a collection of
papers entitled “Toward an Active Social Policy” (W stronę aktywnej
polityki społecznej)13, in which we indicated the need to transform the
priorities that were outlined in social policy from protective welfare
activities into activation programmes. The last four years have brought
changes precisely in this direction. The information presented in the
scheme below illustrates some examples.
Disseminating elements of the concept of an active social policy
Examples of practical activities initiated in the third sector:
– Activation of the local community through the CAL method (CAL – Polish
acronyms taken from Centrum Aktywności Lokalnej – Centre for Local
Activation; method developed by the Association for CAL – Stowarzyszenie
na rzecz CAL);
– Activation of the local community: funds and programmes run locally
(Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland – Akademia
Rozwoju Filantropii w Polsce, Rural Development Foundation – Fundacja
Wspomagania Wsi and other organisations);
– Social reintegration of socially marginalised people through the Koefed
School method (Foundation “Barka”);
– Offices for Activation of the Unemployed (Biura Aktywności Bezrobotnych),
which benefit from the French concept of “assisting the unemployed”
(Caritas Poland).
Legislative measures:
– Act on Public Benefits Activities and Volunteer Work (Ustawa o dzialalności
pożytku publicznego i o wolontariacie) (2003);
– Act on Social Employment (Ustawa o zatrudnieniu socjalnym) (2003);
– Act on Employment Promotion and Labour Market Institutions (Ustawa
o promocji zatrudnienia i instytucjach rynku pracy) (2004);
– Act on Social Welfare (Ustawa o pomocy społecznej) (2004);
– Act on Social Cooperatives (Ustawa o spółdzielniach socjalnych) (2006).
Cross-Sectoral Activities:
– Projects organised through the European Union’s EQUAL Initiative.
Source: author.
13
See: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), W stronę aktywnej polityki społecznej,
Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2003.
The term “active social policy” has already entered public discourse
in Poland14 as well as in the language used in government documents
and documents prepared as part of projects organised through the EU
European Social Fund in our country. However, only selected elements
of this model are becoming popular without its theoretical foundation15,
which has several consequences. One of the consequences is a reduction
of the concept of active social policy (ASP) in Polish public discourse
to the Anglo-Saxon phrasing of workfare, which reflects the American
philosophy of free market economy16. ASP is thus supported from this
ideological position or criticised from other ideological positions17. In my
opinion, the concept of ASP has a “European dimension” and differs from
the concept of workfare on an ethical level because, unlike Anglo-Saxon
criticism of the welfare state, it makes reference to the achievements of
the Durkheimian School, which was among the major influences of the
continental model of social policy (founded on social solidarity rather
than individualism)18.
In the above-mentioned 2003 publication of the Institute of Public
Affairs, I presented the concept of active social policy as a model solution
based on five basic assumptions: (1) a preference for the principle of
social participation at the expense of the principle of maximising social
protection, (2) promotion of various forms of supported employment,
(3) focusing support on the unemployed who are capable of working (or
who are able to regain this capacity), (4) a change through social policy
programmes not in the scale of redistribution, but the kind of goods that
are distributed (access to work instead of welfare benefits), (5) a tendency
to legitimise social programmes in a way that transcends traditional
ideological divisions19. The priorities of ASP are also presented in the
scheme below.
14
It should be remembered that other terms such as “activating social policy” and
“work state” are also used.
15
A deeper analysis from a sociological perspective of the ASP concept: R. Berkel,
I.H. Möller (eds.), Active social policies in the EU. Inclusion through participation?,
The Policy Press, Bristol 2002.
16
Even in the United States this approach is termed conservative.
17
See, for example, the critical analysis of the ASP concept in: R. Szarffenberg,
Dialog wokół polityki społecznej, “Dialog” 2006, No. 4.
18
See: R. Berkel, I.H. Möller (eds.), Active social policies..., op. cit. The issue of
the achievements of the Durkheimian School requires further analysis, which exceeds the
possibilities of this discussion.
19
See: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna..., op. cit.
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Marek Rymsza
Basic assumptions of the concept of active social policy
– ASP is a collection of programmes aiming to activate beneficiaries even at
the expense of limiting the level of welfare support that they receive. There
is thus a change in social policy on an ethical level: from social protection
to participation.
– The goal of ASP is “social inclusion”, but participation in society is
perceived through the lens of activation on the labour market, if not in the
“normal” labour market than at least in the social economy sector, which
“builds around” the commercial market.
– Activating initiatives organised through ASP are addressed above all to the
unemployed who are capable of working, and in the second place to people
who can regain the capacity to work. This support is organised at the expense
of social welfare for people who are continually unable to be economically
active.
– In the European Union, programmes that are a part of active labour market
policies “replace” traditional welfare programmes; however, this does not
translate into limiting the redistribution function of social policy. The kind of
goods that are redistributed changes: work is redistributed instead of welfare
benefits. This is not synonymous to the workfare idea of “work instead of
welfare”.
– The ASP model transcends traditional ideological divisions and it is
implemented to the largest degree by the country of Denmark, which
certainly not by accident lies on the frontier of three traditional social
policy models: the social democratic model (Scandinavian countries), the
conservative model (the neighboring country of Germany), and the liberal
model (in Denmark’s neighboring country from “across the sea”, the United
Kingdom).
Source: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna…, op. cit., pp. 29–32.
I consider the concept of ASP as having great potential to develop and
create the opportunity to reconstruct the European social security system.
Moreover, ASP achieves this not by simply “cutting benefits”, which
lowers the standards of social security and emerges from the assumption
that nothing is more effective in activating the unemployed than the
pressure of one’s own poverty as stated by George Gilder, a representative
of the neoliberal school20. On the contrary, ASP strengthens social ties
and, in accordance with the principle of empowerment21, capitalises
20
See: G. Gilder, Wealth and Poverty, Zysk i S-ka, Poznan 2001, p. 199.
The principle of empowerment is currently over-used and over-simplified in
debates on the methods of reducing social exclusion. We usually understand the term
empowerment as the participation of beneficiaries in support programs and training
(investing in human capital). In the classical approach to empowerment, a key element
of concept is social capital. Non-governmental organisations empower people serving as
21
on civil society’s capacity to organise mutual support (social capital
resources). Precisely this inclination links the concept of ASP with
the social economy (both the “old” and the “new”) and creates the
opportunity to treat the reconstruction of the welfare state in terms of
development rather than social regress.
Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to objectively consider not only the
strengths but also the weaknesses of the concept of active social policies,
as well as to acknowledge the existing criticisms, doubts and questions22.
3. The Strengths of the Concept of Active Social Policy
In my opinion, the strengths of the concept of active social policy
in the form that it currently takes in Europe are: (1) transcending
traditional ideological divisions between supporters and opponents of
the welfare state, (2) rejection of the model of a total welfare institution,
(3) capitalising on the social and economic potential of the third sector,
and (4) rejection of the unmotivating principle of decommodification.
Transcending traditional ideological divisions over the idea of the
welfare state
The growing popularity of the concept of ASP is linked to the fact
that it transcends traditional ideological divisions. Its basic assumptions,
after a certain “reworking” (that does not alter the essence of the idea)
can be accepted in by all three traditional models of social policy: liberal
(as the European version of workfare), social democrat (as a concept that
focuses on the social inclusion of marginalised groups), and conservative
(as a new form of social solidarity in social policy). The concept of ASP
is not identical to the concept of workfare, which has a clear ideological
profile, although it benefits from practical solutions developed through
the liberal model23.
mediating structures between local communities and public institutions .See: P. Berger,
R. Neuhaus, To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy,
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington D.C. 1977.
22
I analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of ASP in several papers,
lectures and speeches given in Polish during the last years. Other authors may have
different opinions about this matter.
23
See: M. Rymsza, Aktywizacja przez pracę: rola społecznej przedsiębiorczości,
in: Przeciw wykluczeniu społecznemu (volume with conference papers), Foundation
“Pro Caritate”, Warsaw 2003.
180
Marek Rymsza
Rejection of the model of a total welfare institution
Organisers of the contemporary trend of activation through work
programmes are conscious of the threats and side-effects of the 19th-century model of working houses24. As a result, they reject a total welfare
institution and accept that “work community” in most cases must be
separate from “housing community”. This approach distinguishes the
“centres for social integration” and “clubs for social integration”, which
are currently being created in Poland, from the Victorian-era working
houses25. We can also find initiatives that link the two forms of community
(in Poland, initiatives organised by the Barka Foundation or the Emaus
Association are good examples), but by placing a strong emphasis
on avoiding the syndrome of a “total institution”26. The principles
of participation in such “double” communities exemplify how the
weaknesses of a total welfare institution are being avoided. For example,
members of the Emaus community are so-called companioni, people who
mutually support each other through the process of social reintegration,
but above all their task is to reorganise their lives and most of them can
be only temporary residents of a given support centre.
Capitalising on the social and economic potential of the third sector
Activation programmes are in a large part organised by non-governmental organisations because they are more flexible and can thus
more easily implement individual support programmes27. It is also easier
for organisations to overcome the demanding attitudes of programme
beneficiaries, which deepen their marginalised status (through the process
of self-marginalisation). The beneficiaries’ demands are not addressed
to organisations but to the state and social workers because the former
24
It is worth mentioning that working houses were not established in the 19th
century as repressive institutions, but emerged in the 18th century as part of the concept
of workshops that, in today’s language, we would say were designed to make participants
independent.
25
This does not mean that centres for social integration (CIS) are perfect and
have no limitations. See: T. Kaźmierczak, Centra integracji społecznej jako pomysł
na przeciwdziałanie wykluczeniu społecznemu? Refleksje wokól Ustawy o zatrudnieniu
socjalnym, “Trzeci Sektor” 2005, No. 2.
26
The phenomenon of side effects of living in total institutions was deeply analysed
by Erving Goffman. See, for instance: E. Goffman, Asylums. Essays on the Social
Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, New York 1961.
27
See: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna. Stan obecny
i szanse upowszechnienia koncepcji, “Analizy i Opinie” No. 48, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2006.
are to a much lesser extent viewed as institutions of social control. In
my opinion, precisely this perception of associations and foundations is
the reason that they have such a strong position in the social economy.
Participants of “old social economy” initiatives had as many difficulties
as people who are currently socially marginalised, but the former
were victims of the “predatory capitalism” that existed during the
industrialisation period, not of the over-protective social welfare measures
of the state in the second half of the 20th century.
Rejection of the unmotivating principle of decommodification
The concept of decommodification was formulated by social
democrats and refers to achieving a situation of complete economic
independence regardless of citizens’ activities on the labour market28,
and it was the focal point of an extreme interpretation of the welfare
state. From the beginning, this concept was questioned by liberal and
conservative critics of the welfare state, who emphasised that “free”
support (entitlement o welfare with no obligations) to people who are
capable of working is unmotivating and demoralising29. ASP undermines
the legitimacy of the principle of decommodification “from the inside”
and was introduced by those who “inherited” the welfare state model30.
The ASP concept does not preclude “giving for free”, but focuses on
giving what is most needed: the possibility of participating in the social
exchange of goods and services (not just their consumption). The
rejection of the principle of commodification should not, however, lead us
to the opposite extreme: we are not interested in limiting support, but in
changing the kind of support that is offered.
4. Problems with Disseminating the Concept
of Active Social Policy
In my view, the problems, which can be resolved only after deeper
analysis and empirical studies, include: (1) unclear institutional
boundaries of active social policy, and (2) conflict over measuring the
effectiveness of ASP programmes. Among the existing documented and
28
See: G. Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press 1990.
29
See: L.M. Mead, et al., From Welfare to Work. Lessons from America, IEA Health
and Welfare Unit, London 1997.
30
See: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna..., op. cit.
182
Marek Rymsza
analysed criticisms, I would mention: (3) the counter-effects of certain
forms of social activation and (4) the partial delegitimisation of the state’s
social function through ASP.
The unclear institutional boundaries of ASP programmes
It is not clear where the boundary between social activation
programmes of social policy and active labour market policy (ALMP)
programmes lies. This is not just a theoretical debate, especially not in
Poland. On the central level, these boundaries are hazy, which translates
into an unclear division of responsibilities between ministries and their
departments in Poland. For example, when for unclear reasons the
departments responsible for social policy issues for a short time were
separated from the departments responsible for labour issues (traditionally
most Cabinets in Poland have a Minister for Labour and Social Policy),
the issue of social integration remained in the competences of the
Ministry of Social Policy and not of the Ministry of Economy and Labour
although it was precisely under this term that the idea of subsidised
(social) employment was being promoted.
On the local level, however, these boundaries are strict and nearly
unchangeable: social services and labour offices’ services function
alongside each other in Poland, although both are charged with the
responsibility of activating the same social group of the long-term
unemployed. There is a lack of institutional cooperation and for years
we have witnessed a “transferring” of the most difficult beneficiaries
between the labour offices and the social welfare centres.
The conflict over the efficiency of the concept of ASP
This conflict can be in a large part reduced to the question of whether
activating the unemployed through the social economy sector contributes
to raising the level of productive employment. If we a priori reject
the two extreme sides of the debate: (i) that the social economy by its
nature distorts the market (that the level of employment does not rise,
but “normal” employment is replaced with subsidised employment), and
(ii) that the redistribution of work is fair and just regardless of the
economic results, than we must acknowledge the need to carry out
extensive empirical research. It would appear that the results can vary
between different local labour markets. Instead of taking a dogmatic
position, it is worthwhile to search for the conditions that can increase the
possibility of “positive sum games” and “zero sum games”.
The second aspect of this conflict involves the question of whether
ASP is an “economic” concept or “social” one. The answer to this
question is not easy and largely depends on whether we consider the
efficiency of ASP in a long- or a short-term perspective (short-term ASP
means increasing expenditures and for this reason it is promoted in Poland
through the use of the structural funds of the European Social Fund).
We can note a significant difference between social activation programmes
in Europe and in the United States. In the United States, workfare fosters
the development of social entrepreneurship, not subsidised employment.
The priorities of European Union policies, however, are different:
subsidised employment is a means of institutionalising activation policies.
Criticism of the effectiveness of activation programmes
Some critics suggest that participation in activation programmes can
produce a side-effect of stigmatising participants31. This phenomenon
appears in two ways. The first is through the different treatment of
programme participants by employers on the open labour market: people
who have completed activation training programmes are often employed
only in positions that are subsidised by the state and only for the
duration of the subsidy or other benefit. The second is the “ghettoising”
of the disabled through social cooperatives or sheltered employment.
In both cases, full social reintegration is not achieved by the socially
marginalised, which is the fundamental goal of both the ASP concept and
the social economy.
A theoretical description of this state of affairs is provided by the
theory of dual labour markets, which indicates that the impact of an
increasing rate of transition from unemployment to employment is the
segmentation of the labour market: the weaker work in one segment of
the labour market or through more flexible and less secure arrangements32.
Thus, the division between the economically active and inactive is
replaced by a division between the first and second-class employed.
Speaking metaphorically, by destroying one kind of wall, which
maintained the social marginalisation of the weaker, we built a new one.
31
See: J.L. Laville, M. Nyssens, Solidarity-Based Sector Organizations in the
Proximity Services Field: A European Francophone Perspective, “Voluntas” 2000, Vol.
11, No. 1.
32
See: E. Giermanowska, Analiza upowszechniania nietypowych form zatrudnienia
–na przykładzie przeciwdziałania bezrobociu mlodzieży, in: M. Rymsza (ed.), Elastyczny
rynek pracy i bezpieczeństwo socjalne. Flexicurity po polsku?, Institute of Public Affairs,
Warsaw 2005.
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It should nevertheless be noted, that the concept of flexicurity, which
is currently developing in Europe, assumes that flexible employment
does not have to be “worse”: with the proper legislation and management
policies in firms these new forms of employment can and should be
beneficial to employees, including those who have limited employment
capacity33.
Criticism of the partial delegitimisation of social protection
programmes
The concept of ASP focuses on work with the unemployed who
have the capacity to take up employment. We “lose sight” of the need
to expand the scale of social welfare initiatives (and financial resources)
targeted toward members of society who have permanent problems with
being economically active (because of age, disability, etc.). This criticism
becomes still more significant when we realise that it is particularly relevant
to rapidly aging societies (such as in almost all European countries). In
an extreme scenario, this kind of reductionism perceives people who are
not economically active or those who cannot regain their “employment
capacity” (employability) as “superfluous”. This view is dangerous.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that ASP is also developing
to include activation methods for the elderly (the concept of active aging),
which promote life-long learning or volunteer work alongside salaried
employment34. In this perspective, intermediary solutions between care
and activation are being designed which do not entrench the division
between the economically active and the inactive.
5. In the Direction of a Polish Model of the New Wave
of Social Economy
It is worth considering the question of whether Poland’s experience
to date with ASP methods in promoting social entrepreneurship will
enable us to define the characteristics of the developing Polish model of
the second wave of social economy.
33
See: M. Rymsza, W poszukiwaniu równowagi między elastycznością rynku pracy
a bezpieczeństwem socjalnym. Polska w drodze do flexicurity?, in: M. Rymsza (ed.),
Elastyczny rynek pracy…, op. cit.
34
This concept is termed active aging. See: M. Jansen, D. Foden, M. Hutsebaut
(eds.), A Lifelong Strategy for Active Ageing, European Trade Union Institute, Brussels
2003.
The direction of development of the Polish model is without a doubt
shaped by social entrepreneurship initiatives that are funded by the EQUAL
Initiative. These initiatives benefit from broad public support, and through
cooperation in the thematic groups (the thematic groups assemble projects
with similar profiles; one of these groups is dedicated to the development
of the social economy), they have a higher chance of impacting the
mainstream of social policy than other initiatives. An analysis of the
experiences with the EQUAL Initiative allows us to outline the developing
Polish model and I will give it the working title of “The Polish approach
to empowerment”. At the current stage, we can identify four characteristics:
(1) an emphasis on investing in human capital while under-appreciating
social capital; (2) a preference for “vertical inclusion” to the detriment
of strengthening horizontal links based on mutaelity (“horizontal
inclusion”)35; (3) a preference for active labour market programmes,
but with a more difficult implementation of social welfare activation
programmes; (4) the phenomenon of a convergence of some elements
of non-governmental organisations involved in the social economy: from
the non-profit form, to not-for-profit and finally to not-for-private profit36.
The Polish approach to empowerment, experiences with IW EQUAL
A preference for investing in human capital
Projects carried out through the EQUAL Initiative are oriented toward building
human capital, which is observable in terms of the preferences of both the institutions
organising the projects (e.g. the popularity of training projects), and the administrative
authority monitoring the projects (e.g. the number of new employment positions
created for socially marginalised people is used as an indicator of success in project
evaluation). Capitalising on and strengthening of social capital is under-appreciated.
The level to which newly created social enterprises are “rooted” in the local community
can turn out to be a deciding factor in the sustainability of the initiative after the project
is complete and the funding source ends.
A preference for “vertical inclusion”
The EQUAL Initiative emphasises the value of, in the first place, supporting the socially
excluded (activities “one for all”), and only in the second place of promoting mutual
help (“the weaker help each other”). The more excluded a given community is, the
more the task of implementing an activation project becomes a “priority”. This means,
however, that the initiatives that are undertaken have a high economic risk and some of
them have practically no chance of being sustainable.
35
With reference to the types of social bonds and the role of social policy in
strengthening them see: M. Rymsza, Social Policy and Social Ties, in: On Solidarity
(volume with conference papers), Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna 2006.
36
See: M. Rymsza, Stara i nowa…, op. cit.
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Marek Rymsza
A preference for an active social policy
Labour offices (called in Poland as Powiatowe Urzędy Pracy – PUP) more often than
social welfare centres (Ośrodki Pomocy Społecznej – OPS) and with more enthusiasm
declare interest in participating in projects designed to support the socially excluded
through activation initiatives. Perhaps this difference results from the fact that the
organisational culture of the work agencies is more suitable for project-oriented work. It
seems significant, however, that the EQUAL Initiative projects focus on strengthening
human capital. The act defining the role of PUPincludes carrying out training programmes
for the unemployed, employment mediation, etc. among their responsibilities; they are
not, however, prepared to strengthen the local community. Such forms of support as
community capacity building or local community activation are areas for which social
services could potentially take responsibility. Unfortunately, such forms of activations
are developing slowly in Poland, though there has been an increasing amount of activity
through the EQUAL Initiative.
Convergence with the third sector
Non-governmental organisations became involved in the EQUAL Initiative not only
because it presented new possibilities for effectively fulfilling their statutory goals,
but also because it could strengthen their own economic potential. The condition of
the third sector in Poland is weak and entering the track to the SE sector also means
transitioning from non-profit, to not-for-profit and finally to not-for-private profit.
This approach raises the following question (also from the legal perspective): at which
point does a non-governmental organisation de facto become a social enterprise?
This will require the appropriate legal modifications. Unfortunately, the government
is preparing solutions that tend precisely in the opposite direction. For instance social
cooperatives are treated by law as quasi NGOs.
Source: author.
The above-mentioned characteristics of the developing model
suggest that we are benefiting only to a small degree from the
rich tradition of the social economy in Poland, which dates back
to the positivist activities of the partition period, and particularly in the
Wielkopolska and Małopolska (historical Polish Galicia) regions, and
was established during the inter-war period (one of the icons of this
period is the village of Lisków37). Why is this? The negative economic
and social conditions are not the sole explanation of the transformation
of the “old” social economy into the “new” one.
37
We make reference to this example in the project “Towar a Polsh Model of the
Social Economy – Building a New Lisków” through which this publication was made
possible, in order to emphasise the need and the added value of effectively capitalising
on the wealth of this history for the benefit of the second wave of the social economy.
Effective capitalising also means being open to critical analysis, a principle that is
documented in the work of Izabella Bukraba-Rylska, which appears in this compilation.
During the Polish People’s Republic (PPR), communism unearthed
the roots of cooperative activities, both in the economic and the theoretical
dimension. The irony of real socialism was that it destroyed what it
fought against as effectively as that which it supported. By incorporating
cooperatives as an element of the communist economic system, it
counter-posed it to the free market system. By the end of the Polish
People’s Republic, there was an opportunity to rebuild the cooperative
movement because its objectives were close to the First Solidarity’s
(1980–1981) programme, but the imposition of Martial Law (December
1981) precluded this possibility.
The past decade of systemic transformation has been a return to the
market economy but without the cooperative option. The social economy
was excluded from the mainstream of institutional changes during the
1990s. This was in a large measure a delayed consequence of the PPR.
The economic transformation meant “moving away from the old” or, in
other words, the forms preferred in the centralised command economy.
The social economy “smelled of socialism”, and its instruments and
institutions were not considered part of the modern inventory of market
instruments.
The current decade created the chance to undue or at least to complete
the logic of the transformation. Decision-makers realised that a social
policy founded on social security programmes as a response to economic
reforms had exhausted its possibilities. It led not only to the creation
and maintenance of a high level of unemployment, but above all, it
lowered the economic activity of adult Poles to a level yet unknown in
Europe38. We realised the need to promote active forms of support and,
simultaneously, Poland’s accession to the European Union gave us
the possibility to benefit from structural funds in order to develop such
a social policy. We thus stood before the possibility of enrooting the social
economy in a new social and economic system. Will we take advantage
of this opportunity?
38
See: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna... op. cit.
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
A Model for Community Development Work
with Impoverished Rural Communities1
1. What Is Community Development Work
and Why Should We Engage In It?
The term community development refers to a special set of activities
that are undertaken in a targeted and conscious manner in a selected
community by a community development worker. These activities allow
the community development worker to methodically intervene in the
“natural” social relations and processes in the given community, thus
influencing them in order to encourage sustainable and desired changes
in the community. Community development as a targeted intervention
has a limited time frame; the community development worker leaves the
community once the development goals have been achieved.
Generally speaking, the essence of community development involves
assisting existing local community groups (or helping to create new
ones) in an unimposing and supportive way that enables the community
1
The article is an English version of the paper published in Polish as:
T. Kaźmierczak, Model animacji lokalnej w zaniedbanych społecznościach wiejskich,
Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008. The proposed model for community development
work was prepared by the author of this article at the Institute of Public Affairs with advice
and support from Marek Rymsza. The practical experience of four community development
workers was also used in this text: Weronika Pylak, Dominik Skrzypkowski, Marek
Śliwiński, and Rozalia Zając, who tested the model during their work in the field as a part of
the project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New Lisków”. The
author supervised the work of the community development workers; the coordination work
was done by Anita Sobańska. See attachement 1 to this paper (Editors’ note).
A Model for Community Development Work with Impoverished...
189
to participate in decision-making and organise around issues that
significantly influence the community. In essence, community development
involves activating a given community and strengthening it to develop
economically and institutionally.
If community development is understood in this way, it is perfectly
legitimate to question the meaning and need for community development:
it could be assumed that after the decentralisation reforms in Poland
in the late 1990s, local public affairs have been a matter of the local
government2. The local self-government system that was established as
a result of those reforms gives community members a chance to influence
the decisions and activities that are organised by local self-governments.
It may thus seem that community development is a sort of luxury or
usurpation of power from the local population. The most important
reason for engaging in community development and thus a justification
for the (low) expenses of such work is the fact that in places where the
“community participates”, indicators such as quality of life, effectiveness
in resolving problems, and the ability to achieve development goals are
higher than in places where the community is passive or withdrawn.
Public authorities can achieve a great deal but they are not able
to do everything; cooperation with local partners allows the community
to overcome the limits of the local self-governments. Moreover, the
synergy effect achieved through collaboration increases the effectiveness
of local social policy.
Thus, community development not only does not threaten local
democracy but, on the contrary, it also strengthens it and makes it more
effective by helping the community transform into a local civil society
that is conscious of its interests and needs and is capable of working
effectively and cooperating with the public administration. In this
context, it can be understood that the weaker a local democracy is, and
the more atomised, apathetic and inactive the community is, the more
community development is needed. It should also be emphasised that in
the same way that community development work is not a usurpation of
the local population’s power, and the community development worker is
not a usurper. The community development worker acts in accordance
with the law and has permission from the public administration or civic
organisations to fulfill the socially accepted goal/mission. In other words,
the community worker cannot function in an institutional void.
2
See: J. Hrynkiewicz (ed.), Decentralizacja funkcji społecznej państwa, Institute of
Public Affairs, Warsaw 2002.
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Community development is thus a professional activity carried
out within a given community in the form of a structured, methodical
intervention with the goal of triggering a positive change in a given
time frame. Previous experience shows that achieving sustainable and
significant development requires time. The beginning of a development
process and its growth requires a change in the attitudes and
expectations of the community residents. Residents must also acquire
new skills and perfect old ones, organisations must be established
and their capacity developed; all of this takes time, and nothing can be
artificially accelerated or imposed from above. In reality, sustainable
change in a given community requires a perspective of 10 to 15 years.
The development itself may not last that long, but a time frame of several
years must be assumed.
2. The Community Development Model Outlined During
the Project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy
– Building a New Lisków”
The project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy: Building
a New Lisków” was organised by the Institute of Public Affairs with
funding from the EQUAL Community Initiative. It was largely a social
experiment. The community development model was the ultimate effect
of the experiment and it was based on an analysis of the experience
with project implementation in local communities and complemented
with results from research conducted during the project. The model is
one possible social policy instrument for initiating endogenous local
forces for development. The model capitalises on the achievements
of community development approaches implemented in Anglo-Saxon
countries, in which the tradition dates back to the 19th century. The model
can nevertheless be considered “new” in the sense that it places traditional
community development work in a new and specific context and indicates
new possibilities for practice.
We can indicate three distinguishing characteristics of the community
development model designed by the Institute of Public Affairs: (a) it links
community development with the establishment of social enterprises,
(b) the target consists of underdeveloped communities and especially
rural communities, and (c) external sources play the role of inspiration for
change.
191
(a) Support for social enterprise
First, the model is unique in that it links community development with
initiatives focused on social enterprise. The assumption is that the basic
function of social enterprises is to be a motor, to mobilise and spread local
development. Local development can appear as new activity, as a newly
created social enterprise, social centre, institution, or non-governmental
organisation, and it can evolve in every sphere of public life: the economy,
culture, education, and society. Community development strengthens the
community’s capacity to be active by developing its internal strength
and thus mobilising the development process. In particular, community
development makes it easier to create social enterprises, for which social
networks are the basic form of start-up capital. The social enterprise
transforms social capital into economic, organisational and human
capital. More importantly, not every social economy institution possesses
this capacity, but only those that are sufficiently embedded in the
community do.
The level of embeddedness of social enterprises depends on the
following criteria:
• To what degree local resources (human, natural, cultural, etc.) were
capitalised upon;
• To what degree local economic transactions were intensified;
• The level of engagement in local social networks;
• The level of involvement in local social affairs;
• To what degree the social enterprise is perceived by the local
community as “ours”.
(b) Targeting underdeveloped communities
The second characteristic defined by the Institute of Public Affairs in
the community development model is that it takes into consideration the
specificities of the local community, which is the target for development
initiatives. The model is designed for small communities, primarily
rural communities or towns. The distinguishing factor of these
communities is a low level of social and economic development: on the
one hand, they have a relatively high level of poverty which results from
a low level of involvement and/or economic capacity; on the other hand,
a low level of social and political engagement is both the cause and effect
of underdeveloped local institutional resources. Development work is
thus directed to communities that need change the most but are also not
able to initiate it on their own. They are not strong enough to begin the
“road to development” without external aid.
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
(c) External sources inspire the development of local community
resources
The third characteristic of the model results directly from the previous
one: as shown through experience (and not only in our project “Toward
a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New Lisków”), if
the community is weak then the inspiration for change must come
from external sources. In particular, this means that the community
development worker comes into the community as an outsider.
At the beginning, being “an outsider” poses a challenge for community
development workers, but it simultaneously affords them a neutral and
independent status in the community. Such a status is one of the key
sources of legitimacy for the community worker and is thus important
to maintain for the duration of the development work.
Being “an outsider” gives community development workers yet
another role: they become a sort of bridge to the outside world for the
impoverished community, which tends to be isolated and closed. Thanks
to the skills and knowledge of the community development workers as
well as their links with the surrounding environment, the community
gains access to material and symbolic resources that were previously not
available. In optimal conditions, the community development worker,
and with his support the community as well, has access to the resources
necessary to mobilise and continue development initiatives in the
community.
3. Planning Community Development
In simple terms, community development is the activity that the
community development worker carries out. The type and breadth of
the community worker’s activity is determined by local specificities.
It requires a minimum, threshold level of creativity from the community
worker that all professionals require when confronted with a new task.
The rest is a question of the knowledge and skills necessary for designing
a development project that is appropriate for a given community and then
flexibility in implementing the project (constant modifications based on
actual conditions). Community development work is not a haphazard
practice, but an organised intervention in the life of the community,
implemented step by step according to a pre-prepared plan and controlled
by the community development worker. As such, it is essentially proactive.
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There are three points of reference that must be taken into
consideration when planning community development projects:
(a) community capacity, (b) the needs and interest of the community,
and (c) the opportunities for economic development; in the case of our
projects, it is the possibility to initiate social enterprises.
(a) Community capacity
The first point of reference is the community’s capacity, understood
as the series of factors that when taken together determine whether
a given society is capable of taking action; if this is not possible, then
it determines what level of effectiveness the society can achieve.
We are chiefly concerned here with three factors: organisational resources
(institutions), human capital, and social capital. At the beginning of
a community development project, the community worker must evaluate
the existing level of community capacity and define the level that should
be achieved through the project, i.e. the level that will enable a dynamic
development process to begin and continue. The extent of changes
that take place as a result of the community worker’s support should
be defined. Community development work is thus always focused on
building and expanding community capacity. If we expect to initiate
sustainable change as a result of community development work, then
we must achieve changes in the level of capacity: the development of
organisational resources and/or human capital and/or social capital.
Rural communities that are underdeveloped socially and economically are
usually communities with a low capacity; they rarely have organisations/
institutions that focus on the needs/interests of their members and that can fulfill
or express those needs/interests; residents lack the knowledge and specific
skills necessary to effectively organise and/or to create such institutions and/or
to manage them. The level of social capital clearly varies between regions, but
even if strong internal links exist in a given community, it is a general rule that
impoverished regions are also marginalised and have weak links and external
contacts. Community development in such communities is thus “hard labour”
– work must begin with the basics: to link people through networks, base
organisations on these social links (e.g. local associations), and then to integrate
these organisations into regional networks and teach organisation members
how to manage their institutions and to cooperate with other institutions.
The community development worker must break down the distrust and
resistance, which always exists before introducing changes. However,
community workers cannot impose or force the community into anything
during the course of their work because they are not and cannot be a public
authority. Depending on the amount of interest and the level of knowledge
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
and skills necessary to organise among the community residents, community
workers encourage, facilitate, support, inform, instruct, inspire, persuade and
sometimes actually carry out development activities themselves, but only in
situations when the community residents are not able to complete the tasks
independently. Community residents, on the other hand, take part in activities
that would not exist (or would not be possible) without the intervention of
the community development worker. During this work, the residents gain new
skills and experiences and develop institutional structures that are necessary
“here and now”, but which will develop and be helpful in the near and more
distant future. In such a way, community capacity is built step by step, “brick
by brick”.
(b) Community needs and interests
The second point of reference in our model is the real existing
needs and interests of the community. The existing needs/interests can
mobilise people to be active. The community development worker can
be objectively correct in judging that, for example, a cooperative focused
on buying and preparing forest mushrooms, fruits and other edible plants
that grow abundantly in the area will resolve the problem of poverty
in a given village. However, rushing into the initiative will only end in
failure if the residents do not consider it to be important and worth their
energy. Community development work must thus begin differently, with
an activity that will “click” with the residents and involve those who are
most likely to be interested. It is important to remember, however, that
the majority will not participate; realistically, the community worker can
count on only a small percentage of the residents to become involved.
(c) Social enterprise embedded in the community
The third point of reference is the objective defined for the community
development work: in our model, the goal is to embed social enterprises
in the community. Establishing the social enterprise should be determined
by the approach to mobilising the community and developing its capacity,
which depends on the existing level of community capacity and the
residents’ level of preparation to engage in economic activities (in the
near or more distant future). In other words, the community development
project, both as a mobilising force and as an approach to strengthening
the community’s development potential, should aim to create conditions
in which a threshold number of community residents are personally
interested in participating in a collective economic initiative. Creating
a business plan and certainly initiating an enterprise exceeds the
community development worker’s responsibilities.
195
A community development project cannot be too specific. The plan
of action is a sort of screenplay that foresees the major events and the
ultimate goals, but the actual process is an effect of an ongoing turn of
events that are directed by the community worker who gives the events
inertia and channels them toward the defined objective. Community
development work is a process that influences the “here and now”,
which requires community development workers to be open, flexible and
prepared to modify their plans. This means that only two elements can
be planned with relative precision: the community worker’s entrance into
and exit from the community.
4. The Development Worker’s Position in and Relations
with the Community
Community development workers enter the community as outsiders,
but community development work requires that they become important
members of the community in order to effectively influence the
residents. For this reason, an appropriate relationship between the
community worker and the community (its residents) is a prerequisite
and serves as the basis for community development work. Building
such relations is the first task that community workers must undertake.
The community must perceive the development worker as trustworthy,
objective, competent and effective, and the temperature, so to speak, of
relations between the community worker and the community cannot be
too “warm” or too “cold”. For example, if the relations were too “warm”,
then the community worker would be treated as a “local”, a member
of a given group or social category, and would not be able to influence
the residents.
Both situations do not foster the relations necessary to carry out
community development work. The relations should be “lukewarm”,
so that they enable the community worker to influence the residents
and simultaneously not to be considered a member of any given local
group. Maintaining “lukewarm” relations allows the community worker
to remain in the space between groups and serve as a bridge linking
different groups, thus integrating the community. The appropriate
positioning of community development workers in the community –
who they are in the community rather than in what spheres they work –
is perhaps still more important for community development work, which
we understand as triggering activity among people and groups.
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Building social relations is a process that lasts for the duration of
the community development work; if it is carried out well then the
relations deepen and strengthen while the community worker is given
access to “insider information”. Gaining such information is an indicator
of how deep the community development worker has “entered” into
the community and has achieved a fuller connection with it. The process
of building relations can be described as the process of building the
community development worker’s informal authority based on his/her own
character traits, i.e. personality and the effect of activities. Formal authority,
which is given to the community development worker by the delegating
institution, is the point of entry. It is thus important that the delegating
institution is known to the community and respected. Legitimisation from
the institutional side guarantees community workers a level of confidence
and trustworthiness that enables them to enter the community and then
to prove their trustworthiness, skills and effectiveness. Their success
becomes the foundation for further initiatives which can be more original.
During the community development work, community workers can prove
their qualifications and simultaneously shift the source of authority from the
delegating institution to their own capacities.
Experience shows that the significance of success in the early phase
is essential for the continuation of the community development worker’s
activities; without success at the beginning and without establishing
the appropriate relations between the community and the development
worker, the chances of fulfilling project objectives are small.
5. The Phases of Community Development Work
We can distinguish three basic phases of community development
work: (a) the preparation phase, (b) the actual development phase, and
(c) the concluding phase.
(a) Building relations and learning about the community (the
preparation phase)
First of all, the community development worker must focus
on building relations. This requires establishing contacts, an endgoal in itself, which allows the community worker to learn about the
community. During this phase, community development workers also
search for inspiration/ideas for activities, such as a preliminary project
that would interest and involve the community and allow the community
197
worker to build his/her authority. On the other hand, the collected
information allows community workers to evaluate the local capacity.
Community workers thus ask about the community resources, the level
of organisational, human and social capital, the community’s needs and
problems, its weak and strong sides, and the structure and functioning
of local government. On this basis, the community worker develops
a development project. The actual project implementation takes place
during the second phase of community development, which we understand
primarily as building relations between people and institutions. The first
phase is devoted to entering the community and learning about it and then
identifying people and/or institutions who are potential partners for future
work; the early phase of a community development project is also useful
for achieving this goal.
Oftentimes, initial projects are directed toward children or youth. This
approach is usually adopted because these groups are relatively easy to define
and engage in activities. Previous experience shows that the adult population
can be more effectively approached in this way, and specifically, by addressing
the parental role of supporting the children involved in the project.
(b) Implementation of the plan (the actual development phase)
Community development workers can begin the second phase of
actual development work after they have done the following: built
relations on at least a minimum threshold level, become involved in
local social networks, met key people and institutions, and gained an
understanding of the community’s possibilities and limitations. The plan
for the community development work should have already been created
during the first phase. Community development work can involve all or
some of the factors that influence the level of community capacity. On the
one hand, the work is concerned with educating the community, while on
the other hand it is focused on building and strengthening social networks
internal to the community as well as the community’s links to the outside,
organising residents into groups and organisations, strengthening their
effectiveness and efficiency, and building communication channels and
cooperation between organisations.
The intermediary goals of community development work are achieved
through specific projects that are organised with varying degrees of
foresight. Flexibility is always key. Regardless of how the ideas for these
projects arise, it is the community worker who is ultimately responsible
for their shape and content. It is especially important that the community
worker “stays in the shadows” of the community: the community
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Tomasz Kaźmierczak
worker should describe the community as the “parent of success”. In our
community development model, the community development worker is
not a community leader.
(c) Concluding phase
Well guided community development work triggers cooperative
and collaborative processes that alter the institutional character of the
community and change the residents’ attitudes. When these processes
attain a “critical mass” the community development workers can move
to the final phase of their work, i.e. a progressive exit. Community
development workers must ultimately leave, and they should do so with
a certainty that the community is self-sufficient.
The duration of each of the above described phases of community
development cannot be clearly demarcated. It can be assumed,
nevertheless, that the beginning phase should not last longer than
a few months or a year. The concluding phase is shorter. The length of
time needed to carry out community development work depends on the
specificity of the community and on the development worker’s objectives:
it can last several months or several years.
Community development work should not be carried out too
intensively and the community development worker should not visit the
community too frequently or spend too much time within the community.
The community must have time to mature with the decisions that are
taken and the changes that are taking place; it also needs space to be able
to undertake its own initiatives. Community workers must adjust their
work rate to the rate at which the community and its residents change;
the saying “two steps forward, one step back” appropriately expresses the
tempo of work. Not following these principles may mean that community
development workers impose their will onto the community and relieve
the community of responsibly, which only stifles its activity and is thus
contrary to the objective of community development work.
6. The Knowledge and Skills
of the Community Development Worker
Community development is understood in our model as a professional
activity. What kind of knowledge and skills should a professional
community development worker possess? Undoubtedly, we can mention
three fields of knowledge and skills. They include:
199
• knowledge about the functioning mechanisms of the community;
• knowledge about the mechanisms of change in the community;
• skills to methodically trigger and implement change in the
community.
The above described model of community development requires
the community development worker to possess skills and knowledge in
one more field: the social economy. Community development is based
on work with people, for people and through people. Thus, the skills and
knowledge of the community development worker are crucial at each
phase. They are decisive in the development of interpersonal relations,
contacts and relations within and between groups as well as the evolution
of contacts and relations in public forums where the every-day work
of the community worker takes place. Using these skills also requires
expressing respect for the dignity and the right of self-definition of
community residents, regardless of their social status.
Even having highly-developed skills will not protect the community
development worker from experiencing moments of doubt, uncertainty,
or emotional fatigue. These moments will unavoidably arise; it is the
nature of social work with people with different personalities, cultural
upbringing, needs and interests, and moreover, who have free will. For
this reason, an integral part of the community development model is
the supporting role of the delegating institution for the community
worker. Support should include both psychological and merit-based
support (advice about issues related to development work) as well as
the opportunity to improve the community worker’s skills (training
programmes).
* * *
The community development model designed during the project
Lisków” is also a proposal for a solution to a problem that has adamantly
existed for centuries: the underdevelopment of rural areas. The first
to address this challenge were the “patronising intelligentsia” between
the 19th and the 20th century. One of them was Father Wacław Bliziński,
author of the success story in the village of Lisków. The proposed model
symbolically integrates the experiences of these early intelligentsia
community workers, but also attempts to revitalise this tradition. It should
thus be a practical bridge “between the olden times and the modern
times”. It seems that this tradition is particularly valuable now that
200
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Poland’s integration into European structures creates opportunities for
development.
On the other hand, this model benefits from the most modern social
theories. It reaches back to community development models developed
in the United Kingdom and the United States where this kind of social
work is especially developed. It is interesting that the basic goals of
these models have a universal and timeless character; the fact that certain
elements can be identified in Father Bliziński’s work in Lisków is proof
of this.
The proposed model for community development is thus based in
the community and links it to the past in order to face the challenges of
the future. We expect that in the coming years the citizens’ quality of life
will increasingly depend on the strength and efficiency of local/regional
communities and social capital will be the most significant factor in
building strong communities. Achieving these conditions is the ultimate
goal of the proposed community development model.
Attachment No. 1
Information about the Activities of Community Workers during
the Project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy –:
Building a New Lisków”
The project “Toward the Polish Model of Social Economy: We Are
Building the New Lisków” was a kind of social experiment and involved
two types of activities: implementation work and research work. Both
activities were focused on social enterprises embedded in the community,
which were considered as a sort of engine that stimulates the local
development process. The project was in a large part inspired by the
“historical” experience of the village of Lisków during the period when
Father Wacław Bliziński lived there and activated the community. This
experience teaches us that basing economic activity on social networks
that are open “to outside influences” is the appropriate foundation
not only for economic success, but also for mobilising development
processes in other domains of community life such as the social, cultural
and educational domains. It is thus the basis of what we call sustainable
development.
In the project “new Lisków” creating a social enterprise that is
embedded in the local community was the task of local committees
201
(Local Partnerships). These committees were formed in four Poviats: Ełk
and Nidzica in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship, and in Biłgoraj
and Lublin-Ziemski in the Lublin Voivodship. Local partner institutions
decided on the membership of the committees and their structure as
well as what kinds of enterprises would be formed, where and how.
Consequently, each committee was different and the enterprises that were
ultimately created were also different.
The task of working with the communities and developing their
social capital, so that the enterprises that were founded by external forces
could be locally embedded, belonged to the community development
workers. “Embedding” – in the simplest terms – means to establish
and strengthen mutually beneficial links between the enterprise and the
community. Four community development workers were recruited. They
received training in the United Kingdom (the training was prepared by the
established British non-profit organisation, the Community Development
Foundation). The community development workers then went into the
field in September of 2006. According to the project plans, there were
four of them, one in each Poviat. It was also expected that the community
workers would be young graduates in the field of social sciences who
have some experience with community development work, but for whom
the community development work in this project would be the beginning
of their career rather than the conclusion. It is worth noting that the basic
conditions of community development work, the place and realistic
opportunities for development were determined by the local committees.
The communities’ openness toward the development workers’ activities
also varied and influenced the possibilities for collaboration. Thus, not
only were the communities in which the community development workers
began their activities different, but also the attitude of local partners
toward the community development workers varied.
The contracts with the community development workers initially
foresaw one year of work, which was a very short period. Despite this, the
community development workers had surprisingly good outcomes, which
in three cases substantiated the extension of grants for another half a year.
Within the project, community development work could not be continued.
Each of the community development workers worked independently
to implement their own action plan. The development workers met once
a month in order to discuss any problems that arose and plans for their
work in the near and more distant future. During these meetings, the
community workers also benefited from professional psychological
202
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
support and participated in workshops designed to improve their
communications skills.
The community development work carried out during the project
Lisków” was oriented toward communities that are socio-economically
underdeveloped (impoverished, marginalised). The objective was
to inspire and initiate grassroots economic, social and cultural initiatives
that would enable residents to gain and improve their social and economic
skills and that would also become a source of income, support and
personal development. In the long-term perspective, these initiatives
would improve the quality of life in the communities. Achieving these
general goals required that community development workers raise the
community capacity and in particular the level of social capital.
As part of the project, development work was organised in five
communities – Prostki and Golubie (in the Ełk Poviat), Kamionka
(Nidzica Poviat), Krężnica Jara (Lublin Poviat) and Korytków
(Biłgoraj Poviat) – and was led by four development workers: Marek
Śliwiński (Prostki and Golubie), Dominik Skrzypkowski (Kamionka),
Weronika Pylak (Krężnica Jara) and Rozalia Zając (Korytków Duży)3.
The community development workers’ domains of activity included:
• organising the community in order to create local groups/
organisations, which complete specific tasks;
• developing existing local groups/organisations to increase their
capacity and level of cooperation and efficiency in achieving defined
goals;
• working with local groups/organisations on establishing/
strengthening cooperative relations within the community as well as with
institutions outside of it;
• constructing and upholding links (formal and informal) within the
community that determine the quality of cooperation;
• embedding social enterprises and other initiatives inspired “from
the outside” or “from above” in the community (establishing them in the
local networks).
3
More abort mentioned above activities undertaken by mentioned above community
development workers in: M. Dudkiewicz, T. Kaźmierczak, I Rybka (with assistance of
A. Sobańska and P. Sobiesiak), Animacja lokalna. Jak aktywizować społeczności
wiejskie?, Academy for Philanthropy Development in Poland and Institute of Public
Affairs, Warsaw 2008.
Kamionka is a small village not far from the town of Nidzica. A Local
Partnership, led by the Foundation “Nida”, was implementing a project called
the “Pottery Village” in Komionka and a community development project was
being implemented simultaneously. The goal of the community development
project was to strengthen the social capital of the village, which would enable
the community to better capitalise on the opportunities created by the “Pottery
Village” project. The measurable effect of the work with the village residents was
the establishment of a local organisation, the Association for the Development
of Mazurian Villages – “We want it”, whose members supported the “Pottery
Village” initiative with a project entitled “Drying Herbs”, which was to build
the economic capital of the village Kamionka by growing and selling dried
herbs and was cofinanced by the Rural Development Foundation. Furthermore,
the association has cooperated with local government representatives in order
to open an old community centre in a nearby village, which would also activate
the residents.
The “Pottery Village” is a cluster of social enterprises established with the
help of several different institutions. Among the products and services they
offers are: ceramics, blacksmithing, furniture refurbishing, sowing regional
and historical clothing, herb growing, cosmetics, regional souvenirs, regional
cuisine, tourism services (including Mazurian weddings), training programmes,
and conferences.
Krężnica Jara is a village in the gmina of Niedrzwica Duża, located around 20
km from the town of Lublin. The community development project was designed
to build cooperative relations between local organisations, institutions and
residents. The community development worker helped establish the Association
for Creators of Culture – “Red Squirrels”. A group of young people played a key
role in the association. This association is now the main initiator of cultural
events in the gmina. On the 1st of December 2007, the village community
of Krężnica Jara donated an old school building (belonging to the public
administration) to the “Red Squirrels” so that they could organise and run
a rural cultural-social centre there. The “Red Squirrels” de facto run a social
enterprise that works in the field of cultural services. Once the centre develops,
it will expand to provide local integration services. The “Red Squirrels”
cooperate with gmina institutions such as the Cultural Centre in Niedrzwica
Duża, the Association “Women’s Centre”, the Association for Children and
Youth – “Forget-me-not”, the informal youth group – “Inspiration”, the Rural
Development and Education Foundation in the town of Niedrzwica Kościelna
– “Pigeonhole”.
The social enterprise called Association EMAUS also works in the village of
Krężnica Jara and employs and trains the long-term unemployed and homeless,
particularly those belonging to the EMAUS collective. The enterprise has two
production and service workshops: carpentry (focused on the production of
outdoor garden furniture, fireplaces, and a lumberyard); and a locksmith and
welder workshop (including metal construction, park benches).
203
204
Tomasz Kaźmierczak
Korytków is a village nearby Biłgoraj on the Lubelska expressway. Many
of the village residents remember that the Village Home-owners’ Circle and
the Village Youth Union once activated the village. In more recent times,
however, activity in the village has stopped. The community development
project was dedicated to mobilising the village through the school-aged youth.
First, they searched for significant local historical monuments. Then the
youth helped to establish dance, photography and journalism lessons, which
were cofinanced as part of the project “Act locally”. The work carried out
by the community development worker activated the community of Korytków
so much that the school is now “full of life” and the residents also initiated the
Association for the Support of Local Development and Integration – “Patria”.
Seventy people attended the founding meeting of the Association, which beat
the village records (only 20 people came to the 2006 meeting to vote on the
local government representative).
Prostki and Golubie – these villages are characterised by typical symptoms
of exclusion and marginalisation. In both, Local Partnerships inspired the
creation of social cooperatives. The goal of the community development work
was to raise the level of community capacity in both villages and to embed
the cooperatives that were founded in the community. The first phase of work
in the village of Prostki was the Academy of Young Media Savvy Leaders,
which was an educational project for youth organised for half a year with the
Local Gmina Cultural Centre. It included workshops on media and journalism
and the establishment of a well-functioning local information service (www.
naszeprostki.pl), which was visited by over 30,000 people during the first six
months. The success of the Academy allowed the community development
worker to inspire the residents to found the Association for Social Initiatives –
“Our Prostki”, which will be the main partner for the cooperative in activities
aiming to promote development in Prostki. In Golubie, the community
development worker supported the creation of the Rural Movement of
(Voluntary) Community Development Workers, which carried out activities in
the gmina of Kalinowo – the project’s goal is to train 4/5 residents from each of
four selected villages; the task of these trained community workers/volunteers
will then be to activate their local community.
In Prostki, the Social Cooperative, Centre for Professional Training – “Old
School” professionally produces children’s toys and educational support for
kindergartens and social support centres. The social cooperative in the town
of Golubie also runs a studio for weavers, tailors and upholstery, ceramic
makers, blacksmiths, and carpenters.
The capacity of each of the five communities in our project had
a significant influence on the type and breadth of development activities
that the community workers undertook in such a short time, as well as on
the possible outcomes of their work. The strategy documents that were
adopted by the local community committees defined the relations between
205
the community development workers and the firms that were established.
Although their mission within the project “Toward the Polish Model of
Social Economy: We Are Building the New Lisków” was completed
after a year and a half of work, the community development work should
continue for at least one more year.
About the authors
Izabela Bukraba-Rylska – Dr. hab. in Sociology, currently at the
Institute for Rural and Agricultural Development at the Polish Academy
of Sciences and at the Sociology Institute at the University of Warsaw.
Author of over 180 publications (including 10 books) related to the topic
of rural regions, rural culture and peasant traditions in Poland.
Agata Dobrowolska – Student at the Sociology Institute at the University
of Warsaw. Interested in issues of social policy and local self-government.
Currently the director of the Foundation Iuris Academy, a non-government
organization providing pro bono legal services. She has been a scout
instructor in the Warsaw-Mokotów division of the Polish scouts (ZHP).
Kamila Hernik – Sociologist, graduate of the Sociology Institute at
the University of Warsaw, coordinator of the Social Policy Program
at the Institute of Public Affairs. Interested in the sociology of local
communities, the NGO sector and the issue of social dialogue.
Tomasz Kaźmierczak – Dr. of Sociology, associate professor (adjunkt) at
the Institute of Social Prophylactics and Resocialization at the University
of Warsaw. Secretary of discussions on reform of social services during
the Round Table discussions in 1989 and involved in creating the social
services system in Poland after 1989. Specialist at the Institute of Public
Affairs.
Jacek Kisiel – Philologist, graduate of the Interdisciplinary Studies
in the Humanities (MISH) as well as the Eastern European Studies
at the University of Warsaw. Currently works in the Agency for the
Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture.
About the authors
207
Joanna Leszczyńska – Psychologist and sociologist, graduate of the
Department of Psychology and the Sociology Institute at the University
of Warsaw. Specializes in the impact that modern telecommunications
technology has on social life and how they are used in marketing.
Currently a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Social Studies at the
University of Warsaw.
Marek Rymsza – Dr. of Sociology, associate professor (adjunkt) at the
Institute of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Director
of the Social Policy Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. Specializes
in comparative social policy in the feild of social security and the civil
society sector. Cheif editor of the quarterly journal, „Third Sector”.
Paulina Sobiesiak – Sociologist, doctoral candidate at the Sociology
Institute at the University of Warsaw. Currently working in the Social
Policy Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. Specializes in the
sociology of local communities.
Institute of Public Affairs
List of publications – years 2000–2008
Language versions: PL – Polish, EN – English, RU – Russian, UKR – Ukrainian,
D – German
Forthcoming:
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, Europe at the crossroads
q
2008
Books
q Tomasz KaŸmierczak, Kamila Hernik (ed.), Local community in action. Social capital.
Social potential. Local governance
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska, Mateusz Fa³kowski (ed.), Poland-Germany-France. Mutual Perception after the EU enlargement. PL
q Collective work: Activate the electorate. PL
2008
Experts' opinions, research reports, recommendations
q Joanna Fomina, Justyna Frelak, NEXT STOPSKI LONDON Public Perceptions of Labour Migration within the EU. The Case of Polish Labour Migrants in the British
Press. EN
2007
Books
q Marek Rymsza, Grzegorz Makowski, Magdalena Dudkiewicz (ed.), State and Third
Sector. Law and institutions in action. PL
q Jacek Kochanowicz, S³awomir Mandes, Miros³aw Marody (ed.), Cultural aspects of
the economic transformation. PL
q Jaros³aw Æwiek-Karpowicz, Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz, Magdalena Pucyk. Foreword:
Krzysztof Bobiñski, The Polish Members of the European Parliament. Their Activities
and Impact on the Polish Political Scene. EN, PL
q Tomasz KaŸmierczak (ed.), Change in local society. PL
q Ewa Giermanowska (ed.), Young disabled. Professional elicitation and untypical
forms of employment. PL
q Ewa Giermanowska (ed.), Young disabled about oneself. Family, education, work
q Marek Rymsza, Tomasz KaŸmierczak, Social capital, social economy
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska, Jacek Kucharczyk, Jaros³aw Zbieranek, Democracy in Poland 2005–2007, PL
Jacek Kucharczyk, Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz, Learning from experience of West European think thanks: a study In think tank management. EN
q
q
q
q
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse (ed.), Prevention against corruption in use of European founs. PL.
Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz, The Polish Experience In Controlling Illegal Migration. Lessons for EU Candidates and Neighbours. EN
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), To emigrate and to return. Labour migration of Poles
and national policy. PL
2006
Books
q Ewa Giermanowska (ed.), Young disabled. Professional elicitation and untypical
forms of employment. PL
q Marek Rymsza, Tomasz KaŸmierczak, Social capital, social economy. PL
q Józefina Hrynkiewicz, Refused. Analysis of the process of allocate children in the care
institution. PL
q Anna Kwak (ed.), From vicarious protection to adult life. PL
q Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz (ed.), EU Accession Prospects for Turkey and Ukraine. Debates
in New Member States. EN
q Mateusz B³aszczyk, Jacek Sroka (ed.), Networks or structures? Social dialogue at the
regional level. PL
q Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse (ed.), Prevention against corruption in use of European founs. PL
q Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz, The Polish Experience In Controlling Illegal Migration. Lessons for EU Candidates and Neighbours. EN
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), To emigrate and to return. Labour migration of Poles
and national policy. PL
q Jennifer Elrick, Justyna Frelak, Pawe³ Hut, Poland and Germany towards their nationals in East. Polen und Deutschland gegenüber ihren Diasporas im Osten. PL, D
q Mateusz Fa³kowski, Agnieszka Popko, Poland and Germany. Mutual perception after
the enlargement of the European Union. PL
q Jaros³aw Æwiek-Karpowicz, Piotr Maciej Kaczyñski, Assisting Negotiated Transition
to Democracy. Lesssons from Poland 1980–1999. EN
q Mateusz Fa³kowski, Agnieszka Popko, Polen und Deutsche. Gegenseitige Wahrnhmungen nach der Osterweiterung der Europaischen Union. D
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska, Jacek Kucharczyk, Jaros³aw Zbieranek (ed.), Active citizen,
modern electoral system
2005
Books
q Magdalena Arczewska, Not only one act. Law about the non-govenment organizations. PL
q
q
q
q
q
q
El¿bieta Putkiewicz, Private tutoring – grey zone of education. PL
Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz (ed.), The Visegrad States Between Schengen and Neigbourhood. EN
Marcin Walecki, Money and Politics in Poland. EN
Dominik Antonowicz, The university of tomorrow: challenges and policy models.
PL
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska, Jacek Kucharczyk, Piotr Maciej Kaczyñski (ed.), Bridges across Atlantic? Attitudes of Poles, Czechs and Slovaks towards the United
States. PL, EN
Jacek Kucharczyk, Mateusz Fa³kowski (ed.), Citizens of Europe. European integration in Polish public life. PL
q Barbara Fedyszak-Radziejowska (ed.), The process of de-marginalisation of Polish
countryside: aid programmes, leaders, elites and NGOs. PL
q Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse (ed.), Analysis of the possibility of introducing a regional system of implementation of EU structural funds between 2007 and 2013. PL
q Joanna Korczyñska, Maciej Duszczyk, The demand for foreign labour force in Poland. PL
q Roman Dolata, Barbara Murawska, El¿bieta Putkiewicz, The support of career development and needs of teachers in the field. PL
q Andrzej Olechowski, The Polish agenda in Europe. PL
q The Polish European policy: objectives and possibilities. PL
q Anna Wi³kowska, Assessment of teachers` educations in Poland. PL
2004
Books
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Economic consciousness of society and image of business, PL
q Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, The EU regional policy. Examples of Greece, Italy, Ireland
and Poland, PL
q Krzysztof Konarzewski, Educational system under reform. Program basis and circumstances of education. PL
q Marek Rymsza (ed.), Social reforms. Balance of decade. PL
q Eleonora Zieliñska (ed.), International Criminal Court. PL
q Andras Sajo, Freedom of expression. RU, EN
q Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz (ed.), Neighbourhood Across a Divide. EN
q Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse (ed.), Poland and the new EU cohesion policy. PL
q El¿bieta Putkiewicz, Anna Wi³komirska, Public and private schools: comparative study of different environments. PL
q Mateusz Fa³kowski, Kai-Olaf Lang, Common task. Poland, Germany and Ukraine in
the changing Europe. Gemeinsame Aufgabe. Deuchland, Polen und die Ukraine im
sich wandelen Europa. PL, D
q Polish political scene in 2004. Continuation or change?
q Mateusz Fa³kowski (ed.), First Steps in the EU. Polish policy in the European press. PL
q Ewa Giermanowska, Mariola Rac³aw-Markowska (ed.), Morbid absence in Poland.
PL
q Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz (ed.), Securing Europe and America. EN
q Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse (ed.), Poland and the new EU cohesion policy. EN
q Ma³gorzata ¯ytko (ed.), Small child in educational and social security system. PL
q Roman Dolata, El¿bieta Putkiewicz, Anna Wi³komirska, Reform of the secondary
school certificate. Opinions and recommendations. PL
q Marek Rymsza (ed.), Cooperation of the civil sector with the public administration. PL
q Krzysztof Konarzewski, Education in primary school and gymnasium in 2002/2003.
PL
q Ryszard Herbut, Jacek Sroka, Piotr Sula, Social dialog on regional level. PL
q Mariola Rac³aw-Markowska, S³awomir Legat, Vicarious protection of child. PL
q Barbara Murawska, Segregation at the doorstep of primary school. PL
q Krystyna Kamiñska, Local governments role in the education duty of the six-year old. PL
q Artur Nowak-Far, Arkadiusz Michoñski, National administration in the EU process of
minding. PL
q Jan Barcz (ed.), Constitutional aspects of Polish membership in the EU. PL
2003
Books
q Teodor Bulenda, Ryszard Musid³owski (ed.), Penitentiary and post-penitentiary system in Poland. PL
q Piotr Mazurkiewicz (ed.), The Catholic Church on the eve of Poland's accession to the
European Union. PL
q Bogus³awa Budrowska, Anna Titkow, Danuta Duch, The Glass Ceiling- Barriers and
Limitations in the Careers of Polish Women. PL
q Tomasz Kazimierczak, Marek Rymsza (ed.), Towards active social policy. PL
q Ewa Giermanowska, Mariola Rac³aw-Markowska, Local communities against youth
unemployment. PL
q Krystyna Iglicka (ed.), Integration or discrimination? Polish challenges and dilemmas at the doorstep of multiculturalism. PL
q Krystyna Iglicka (ed.), Migration and its impact on labour markets in Poland and
Ukraine. EN and UKR
q Marek Zubik (ed.), Preventing conflict of interest in contemporary Poland. PL
q
q
q
q
Mariusz-Jan Rad³o, Challenge of competitiveness. Lisbon Strategy in European Union
after enlargement. PL
Beata £aciak (ed.), The child in contemporar media culture. PL
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), The image of Poland and the Poles in Europe. PL
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, The EU regional policy at the voivodeship level. PL
q Jan Barcz (ed.), The consequences of EU membership for the Polish legal and administrative system. PL
q Artur Nowak-Far, Arkadiusz Michoñski, The national administration in the EU decision making process. PL
q Teodor Bulenda, Ryszard Musid³owski (ed.), Prison policy in 1989–2002. PL
q Jan Barcz, Cezary Mik, Artur Nowak, Far Review of the EU Constitutional Treaty:
challenges for Poland. PL
q Krzysztof Pankowski, European Parliament. PL and EN
q Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz (ed.), Turning threats into opportunities. EN
q Tomasz Szlendak, Neglected playground. Styles of childbearing and problems of educational inequalities. PL
q Krystyna Iglicka, Piotr KaŸmierkiewicz, Monika Mazur-Rafa³, Managing Immigration – the case and experience of Poland in the contexts of relevant directives of the
European Commission, (in co-operation with CSM). PL
q Miros³aw Grewiñski, The Role of European Social Fund in Policy to Combat Unemployment. Conclusions for Poland. PL
q Ewa Giermanowska, Mariola Rac³aw-Markowska, Local Communities Against Youth
Unemployment. PL
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Before the European Referendum, absence, resistance,
support. PL
q Tomasz Schimanek, An Overview of Foreign Aid for Poland. PL
q Jakub Biernat, Katarzyna Gmaj, Ma³gorzata Wokacz, Not Only Visas. Kaliningrad
Region and EU Enlargement. PL
q Marta Zahorska (ed.), The Pre-School Education-Barriers and Opportunities. PL
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Parish Clergy on Integration with the European
Union. PL
2002
Books
q Urszula Kurczewska, Ma³gorzata Molêda-Zdziech, Lobbying in the European Union. PL
q Changes in the educational system. Results of the empirical research. PL
q Krystyna Iglicka (ed.), Re-migration of the Poles – sad or successful returns?. PL
q Barbara Fatyga, Jolanta Rogala-Ob³êkowska, Lifestyles of the youth and the drugs.
The results of the empirical research. PL
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
Ma³gorzata Fuszara (ed.), Women in Poland at the turn of the century. New gender
contract?. PL
Jacek Kucharczyk (ed.), Europe – America. Transatlantic dimension of reforms in the
European Union. PL
Marcin Walecki (ed.), Financing politics – behind the scenes. PL
Protection of the refugees in Poland (in co-operation with MSZ and UNHCR). PL
Jan Barcz (ed.), Does the Constitution need to be realigned? Systemic and constitutional aspects of Poland's accession to the European Union. PL
Adam Zieliñski, Marek Zubik (ed.), The future of Polish system of justice. PL
Henryk Domañski, The poverty in the post-communist societies. PL
Janusz Halik (ed.), The elderly in Poland. Social and health consequences of the ageing of the society. PL
Józefina Hryniewicz (ed.), Against Poverty and Unemployment: Local Grassroots Initiatives. PL
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Before the European referendum – absence, resistance, support. PL
q Hanna Bojar, Joanna Kurczewska, Consequences of the Schengen Treaty – the results
of the research conducted in the communities from the Eastern borderland. PL
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Inhabitants of rural areas and European integration:
opinions, knowledge, level of being informed. PL and EN
q Mariusz-Jan Rad³o, Lisbon strategy of the European Union. Conclusions for Poland.
PL
q Beata Roguska, Micha³ Strzeszewski, Social interest, knowledge and informing about
Poland's integration with European Union. PL
q El¿bieta Tarkowska, Katarzyna Korzeniewska, The youth from the former collective
farms
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), The future of Polish political scene following the parliamentary elections of 2001. PL
q Micha³ Warchala (ed.), Poland's press image in the EU member states. PL
q Irena Boruta, The strategies of fighting unemployment in international organisations:
UE, MOP, OECD. PL
q
2001
Books
q Janusz Borkowski, The citizen vis-a-vis public administration after the systemic reforms
q W³adys³aw Czapliñski, Anna Wyrozumska, Judge and the international law
q Ryszard Chruœciak, Wiktor Osiatyñski, Constitution-making process in 1989–1997
q Juliusz Gardawski, Trade unions at a crossroads
q Barbara G¹ciarz, W³odzimierz Pañków, Social dialogue in Poland – fiction or chance?
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
Józefina Hrynkiewicz (ed.), The measures and indicators in the health care system
Józefina Hrynkiewicz (ed.), The decentralization of the social services of the State
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska, Andrzej Rosner, Jerzy Wilkin (ed.), The future of rural areas in Poland – visions, strategies, concepts
Krzysztof Konarzewski (ed.), Schooling during the first year of the educational system
reform
Antonina Ostrowska, The disabled in Poland in the 1990s
Ewa Pop³awska (ed.), The Constitution for the enlarged Europe
Marek Rymsza (ed.), Lone motherhood and the social policy
Jan Widacki, Marek M¹czyñski, Janina Czapska, Local community, public security.
Central and Eastern Countries under transformation
Miros³aw Wyrzykowski (ed.), Constitutional basis for the system of law
Andrzej Zoll (ed.), Rational reform of the penal law
Polish road to Schengen. Experts' opinions
q Xymena Doliñska, Mateusz Fa³kowski, Poland – Germany. Mutual perceptions during the enlargement of the European Union (also in German)
q Marzenna Guz-Vetter, Phare 2000 for Eastern Poland and Silesia. Assessment of the
administrative preparedness
q Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), The Poles and the great change. The European integration (also in English)
q Joanna Konieczna, Poland – Ukraine. Mutual perceptions (also in Ukrainian)
q El¿bieta Putkiewicz, Marta Zahorska, Social inequalities in education. A study of six
gminas
q Beata Roguska, Jacek Kucharczyk, The parliamentary elections of 2001 and Poland's
integration into the European Union
q Miros³aw Stec (ed.), Public Administration Reform of 1999 – dilemmas and achievements
q Micha³ Warchala, Poland – France. Mutual perceptions during the European enlargement (also in French)
q Marek Zubik (ed.), Deficiencies of the system of justice
q Common Europe. Opinion of Polish non-governmental analytic centres (also in English)
2000
Books
q Kate Hansen Bundt Norway says 'no'
q A peasant, an agricultural worker or a farmer? Poland's accession to the European
Union – hopes and fears of Polish rural areas
q Janina Czapska, Local security. Social aspect of criminal prevention
q Henryk Domañski, Social hierarchies and barriers in the 1990s
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
Miros³aw Granat (ed.), Non-governmental organisations in Poland. Legal and financial basis
Miros³aw Wyrzykowski (ed.), Constitutional cultures
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, The EU regional policy and its influence on the economic
development. The study of Greece, Italy, and Ireland – conclusions for Poland
Jacek Klich (ed.), The hope for the labour market. Small and medium enterprises in
economy
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), Four reforms – from the concept to the realisation
(also in Russian)
Lena Kolarska-Bobiñska (ed.), The second wave of Polish reforms (also in Russian)
Mark Leonard, The solution for Europe. Between federalism and the Europe of nations
Beata £aciak i Jacek Kurczewski (ed.), Corruption in social life
Marcin Walecki (ed.), Financing politics. Elections, money, political parties
Xymena Doliñska, Micha³ Warchala (ed.), The press image of Poland in the EU member states (quarterly reports)
q Maciej Duszczyk, Dorota Poprzêcki, The opinion of the trade unions and the employers' organisations on the EU enlargement
q Janusz Grzelak, Dominika Maison, Gra¿yna W¹sowicz-Kiry³o, The Polish way of negotiating in the context of Poland's integration into the European Union
q Dariusz Ryszard Kijowski (ed.), Two degrees of administrative jurisdiction
q Adam Mielczarek, Ma³gorzata Sikorska, Poland – Spain, Poland – Sweden. Mutual
perception during the EU enlargement
q Przemys³aw Mielczarek, The entrepreneurs' opinions on the chances and threats for
the sector of small and medium enterprises
q Ma³gorzata Sikorska, Poland – Austria. Mutual perception during the EU enlargement
q Jadwiga Staniszkis, Post-communist state: in search for identity
q Miros³aw Wyrzykowski (ed.), The accountability of public authorities for the damage
in the light of Art. 77 paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland
q Miros³aw Wyrzykowski (ed.), The systemic model of the public prosecutor's office.
Discussion on the project of the Ministry of Justice of 15th March 1999
q Janusz Zaleski (ed.), Effective methods of management in public administration
q

Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy1

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